Goal Post Dimensions

The giant usually yellow "Y's" at each end of a football stadium are probably the first thing a person sees when they have their first glimpse of a modern gridiron venue. A common question arises quite often, just how big are these prominent structures on the gridiron fields. If you are asking that question, you have come to the right place as we will show you the dimensions used at each level and style of football. First let's define the components of the Goal post.

Cross Bar

The cross bar is the horizontal portion of the goal that is parallel to the playing surface. Its height is generally the same at all levels of football but can vary in some cases. This establishes the height a ball must be at when it crosses to the plane of the goal post to be considered "good."

The Uprights

The uprights or the posts of the goal stantion themselves are the two columns positioned perpendicular to the cross bar and above it. These vary in the distance that they are spread apart at the different levels of football. Each upright is set on the imaginary plane of the end line they are set upon, along with the cross bar to create a boundary area target that a kick attempt for point must go through to be considered to count as point(s).

The Base Leg(s)

The legs of the devices are what support and hold the cross bar and uprights in their respective positions. There can be two legs in some designs which are normally extensions of the uprights, below the cross bar in the "H" style goal post design. Or they can be a solitary post such as seen in the slingshot styles. The are to be covered in a thick layer of padding by rules at all levels to protect players and officials from serious injury. The legs just like any other part of the apparatus are considered out of bounds in the end zone.

Streamer

Streamers are pieces of light fabric placed on the tops of uprights to help kicking teams know the wind direction.

In the National Football League the goal posts are all in the yellow "slingshot" style of the structure. According to the NFL rule book the size of these mamoth scoring targets are to be strictly held to so as a consistent product is found at all NFL venues.

The NFL rules first address the cross bar in which they say: "In the plane of each end line there shall be a centrally placed horizontal Crossbar 18 feet, 6 inches in length, the
top face of which is 10 feet above the ground. The goal is the vertical plane extending indefinitely above the crossbar and between the lines indicated by the outer edges of the upright posts."

The rulebook then describes the posts themselves:  " will be the single-standard type, offset from the end line and bright gold in color. The uprights will
extend 35 feet above the crossbar and will be no less than 3 inches and no more than 4 inches in diameter. An orange-colored ribbon 4 inches by 42 inches is to be attached to the top of each post."

Remember the scoring of a kick attempt for points, whether in the point after of field goal try must have the ball pass over the cross bar and inside the plane of the vertical columns above the cross bar extended.

The football rules of the NCAA are very similar to the ones found in the NFL rule book.

The NCAA rules first address the cross bar in which they say: "NCAA Football Field Goal Posts have a top of crossbar height of 10 foot and inside width of 18.5’ feet . The overall height of a College field goal apparatus is 30 foot off of the playing surface with a typical depth of 6.5 feet. The diameter of the posts is between 4inches to 6.5 inches and the lower post is protected by 6 foot of high impact padding."

So as you can see the only difference between the NCAA and the NFL posts are that the NFL uprights are much taller to accomodate the sometimes higher trajectories of the powerful pro kickers.

Remember the scoring of a kick attempt for points, whether in the point after of field goal try must have the ball pass over the cross bar and inside the plane of the posts extended.

Most high schools play under the National Federation of State High Schools or NFHS rules. The NFHS makes the target goal a tad larger that the NCAA and the NFL do to accomodate scoring at this lower level with players that are still growing and learning the game.

The Cross bar in the NFHS rule book is still set at 10 foot above the playing surface. However the uprights are to be positioned 23 foot and 4 inches apart on the inside dimension. The uprights themselves need only be extended a minumum of 10 feet above the top of the cross bar. This makes the high school game have a shorter but wider goal post than the game's upper levels of play. One streamer may be placed on the top of each upright but if they are they must be 42 inches in length, 4 inches wide and be a solid color in one of three choices, red, yellow or orange.