Why are some timeouts 30 seconds in football?

Answer 1

In Football, all timeouts are two minutes in length, unless it is the second charged timeout in the same dead-ball period (i.e. between downs), or if all of the allotted TV commercials for that quarter have been exhausted, or whenever the referee so chooses.

Due to the unlimited nature of substitutions, the length of the timeout is rarely important. Charged timeouts are not used to give players a rest; instead, timeouts are used to stop the clock when it's running low, to counteract a 10-second runoff, to irritate an impatient opponent, or to fix a problem with the lineup or play call. None of these actions take longer than 30 seconds, especially when there will still be a 25-second play clock coming afterward.

There is no such thing as a 60-second, 90-second, or 5-minute timeout. However, the two-minute timing may vary slightly, because the referee will not usually restart play until the network returns from commercial break, due to contractual obligation to adhere to the timing rules. However, mistakes happen.