Why would you have a timed game with a 60-minute clock, only to keep the thing running even while most of the running time on that clock is spent doing something other than playing the game?
It’s called: The Rules.
Why do soccer balls spend most of their time flying around the field in possession of no one?
Again: The rules.
If we want to play a game where grown men get all sweaty quarreling over the possession of some object; then there are a myriad mays to conjure up something that’ll keep guys occupied for a few hours.