The stuff is 24 in length actually, I believe, and the rolls are 54 wide.
They cut at 24 inch lengths sos you can wrap a 14 inch depth (but not all the way around a bass) shell and have a tall enough piece for a tom left over.
Probably just financial production decisions made by Delmar as far as machinery, packing and shipping goes.
You know the cats at the Slingy and Ludwig plants were wondering the same thing all those years.........:)