PHOENIX — The Ravens certainly will get to celebrate their Super Bowl triumph again in their home stadium, maybe even while honoring the retired Ray Lewis.
PHOENIX — The Ravens certainly will get to celebrate their Super Bowl triumph again in their home stadium, maybe even while honoring the retired Ray Lewis.
It just might not happen to open the next NFL season.
Downtown Baltimore already will be a busy place on Sept. 5, when the league planned to hold its traditional Thursday kickoff game hosted by the champions.
The Orioles have a night game at Camden Yards, which shares parking lots with the Ravens’ home stadium.
Unless the Ravens and the NFL can get the Orioles to run a reverse and move the game to the afternoon or to another day — without violating any Major League Baseball rules — Joe Flacco and company could open on the road.
So far, there’s been no progress, and Sept. 4 is not an option because it’s the first night of Rosh Hashanah.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell twice has spoken with his MLB counterpart, Bud Selig, seeking a solution.
“Unfortunately, the only (other) option is to take the Ravens on the road,” Goodell said. “We think that is wrong for the Ravens’ fans. We would not want that to happen. We are working on parallel tracks for a couple more weeks. Clearly, we are getting to a point where we have to make that decision.”
The Orioles are scheduled to play the Indians in Cleveland on Sept. 4 at 7:05 p.m. and then open a series at home against the White Sox on Sept. 5 at 7:05 p.m.
Under baseball’s collective bargaining agreement, getaway games shall not be scheduled or rescheduled to start later than 5 p.m. if either club is required to travel for a day game, scheduled the next day, between cities in which the in-flight time is more than 1 1/2 hours. The rule can be waived by a vote by the players on the team it affects, in this case the Orioles.
Last year, the NFL moved the opener to a Wednesday night to avoid conflicting with President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at the Democratic Convention.
“We have had discussions with representatives of the Orioles, and we have offered to make them financially whole,” Ravens President Dick Cass posted Monday on the team’s Twitter account.