The Ravens might be Super Bowl champions, but they don’t appear to have as much clout in their own city as they do elsewhere in the NFL.
The Super Bowl champion has historically opened the NFL season at home on Thursday night of Week 1, but the Orioles have a home game scheduled for that night as well. Since the O’s and Ravens share a parking lot, playing both games is not possible. Moving the baseball game to earlier in the day would also be problematic, since the Orioles and White Sox, their opponents, are flying in to Baltimore the night before.
After trying to find a solution, the Orioles released a statement Friday announcing that they would not move their game.
“Given the limited options available to reschedule the game at that late date in the season, the parties jointly determined that even an earlier start time would still create such enormous logistical difficulties that it would greatly diminish the fan experience for both events which all parties realized would not be in the interest of their fans or the City,” the statement read.
The Ravens will now open their season on the road, quite possibly in New England against the Patriots.
