March 19, 2013

(JTA) — The Baltimore Ravens and the NFL have agreed that the Super Bowl champions will not open their season — or the league’s season — on the first night of Rosh Hashanah.

The team was scheduled to launch its season on Sept. 5, a Thursday night, but a conflict with baseball’s Baltimore Orioles forced a scheduling change.

With the Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium and the Orioles’ Camden Yards situated next to each other and sharing parking lots, the games cannot be played simultaneously.

NFL bylaws dictate that the game should be moved up a day — in this case it would be to Sept. 4, the first evening of Rosh Hashanah. But according to the Ravens website, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Ravens President Dick Cass said that moving the Ravens game to Wednesday is not up for consideration because of the Jewish New Year.

Possible outcomes include the Ravens and Orioles playing a baseball-football doubleheader on Sept. 4 — the second night of Rosh Hashanan — or the Ravens opening on the road. As league champions, the Ravens earned the right to open the season at home. 

Last year, the San Francisco 49ers played host to the Detroit Lions on Rosh Hashanah, a Sunday night, in the season opener for both teams.
 

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