What is Scrimmage American Football? Scrimmage American Football Explained in 2 minutes
Mike Goodpaster Last Verified
26/06/2026
What is scrimmage?
Scrimmage is a term that is used in multiple sports, including hockey, but is most commonly heard in American Football as the line of scrimmage.
A scrimmage is an exhibition match that does not count towards a regular season, much like a friendly in association football, and is often played at less ferocity than a standard season game match.
A line of scrimmage is the more common term in American football and is an imaginary line which bisects the pitch, beyond which the players cannot go until the ball is in play.
As soon as the ball has been played the line of scrimmage disappears and players from both sides are allowed to attack or defend.
How is scrimmage used in Sports Betting?
The traditional term for scrimmage is an exhibition match and because of this, it is rare for bookmakers to run markets on them as there is no competitive value to the game.
A scrimmage is different to a friendly game of football as there is an element of competition to a friendly. For example, in international soccer a friendly match still affects a nation’s FIFA Ranking, which in turn can affect their seeding when it comes to qualifying groups for international tournaments.
A scrimmage has no impact on any rankings and can be likened to a training match or a club friendly.
Did you know…
In 1992 the greatest game of scrimmage ever took place in Monaco just prior to the Olympic Games.
Arguably the greatest ever basketball team was assembled for a dream team game featuring the likes of Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Karl Malone and Magic Johnson.
It was Michael Jordan’s white team that won the game 40-36 in a scrimmage game that to this day Johnson claims was his best ever.
