NFL Schedule Release May Experience Delay of Game, Don’t Blame The Arizona Cardinals

Feb 3, 2013; New Orleans, LA, USA; General view of the NFL logo after Super Bowl XLVII between the San Francisco 49ers and the Baltimore Ravens at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 NFL schedule was supposedly set for release this Tuesday afternoon April 16th at 4pm Arizona time.  Well, now there is a report out there that there could be a snag and the release may be delayed.  Don’t blame the Arizona Cardinals though.  Hardly.  This one you can blame the Baltimore Ravens for, or more specifically, the Baltimore Orioles.  The NFL kickoff game can’t be played on Thursday September 5th in Baltimore because of an Orioles conflict, which they were unwilling to budge on. The Orioles are scheduled for a home game that same day and there isn’t enough security or room for both events on the same day.

I see a lot of people ask why can’t they just move it to Wednesday September 4th, much like what they had to do last season because of the Democratic National Convention.  Well, that particular Wednesday it is Rosh Hashanah.  The NFL doesn’t want to offend anyone by playing on that date.  Right, because I’m sure Christmas games offend no one.  It is hypocritical reasoning.  That’s the NFL for you though. So, they are trying to figure out what to do in this case as now is the tradition that the winning Super Bowl team play a home game on opening night the following season.

Soon enough though we will find out when teams like the Houston Texans,  Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49’ers, and Seattle Seahawks will be bashing the Cards into oblivion.  I imagine if there is a delay, it won’t be a lengthy one.  The NFL likes to release their schedule prior to the NFL Draft, which starts Thursday April 25th.

Also on the Cards schedule are the Tennessee Titans, St. Louis Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Carolina Panthers.