Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti said the team has offered to compensate their baseball neighbors for any lost revenue. Orioles owner Peter Angelos couldn’t be reached for comment and Greg Bader, the Orioles’ vice president for marketing and public relations, declined comment. However, a team source said the Orioles’ reticence to move the game to earlier in the day is a baseball issue, not a financial one. Orioles officials don’t think they could get the required approval from the White Sox, the league and the players’ association to change the game time.
“It doesn’t just involve the Orioles. There is another team,” said Katy Feeney, MLB’s senior vice president for club relations and scheduling. “I think mainly, from a baseball standpoint, to make that change is extremely difficult.”
The Orioles — and the White Sox for that matter — play the previous night in other cities, which would cause a tough turn-around for both teams.
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The most obvious solution would be moving the football game up to Wednesday, Sept. 4, but Goodell said the league has ruled that out because it conflicts with the first night of Rosh Hashanah. The NFL has played games on the first night of holiday before, including last season when the San Francisco 49ers hosted the Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football on Sept. 16.
However, the season’s first game is a little bit different because the NFL turns it into a football festival of sorts with parties and concerts.
