Free Sample
The Complete Handbook of American Football Goal Posts
The Complete Specifications, Installation, Maintenance, and Business Guide for Football Field Equipment
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: Understanding American Football Goal Posts
American football goal posts are vertical structures that sit at each end of the playing field and serve a specific mechanical purpose: they hold the crossbar and uprights that define the target area for kicking plays. On a kickoff, a team scores 3 points by kicking the ball between the uprights and above the crossbar from the field of play, or 1 point by kicking it between the uprights after a touchdown (the extra point attempt). The goal posts are not merely decorative or symbolic; they are engineered load-bearing structures that must withstand impact, wind, temperature variation, and decades of use while maintaining precise dimensions set by rule.
To understand why goal posts matter and what makes them function, it helps to start with the basic geometry. The uprights sit 18 feet 6 inches apart at the college and NFL level (18 feet at the high school level), and they extend 35 feet above the crossbar in college and NFL play, or 30 feet above the crossbar in high school play. The crossbar is positioned 10 feet above the ground. These dimensions are not arbitrary; they define the scoring zone and have been refined over decades of football to balance difficulty with consistency and viewability. A kicker trying to make a field goal from 40 yards away is not simply trying to hit a target; they are aiming through a specific, narrow corridor defined by those posts and crossbar.
The mechanical function of