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Baltimore Orioles announce they will not change date of Sept. 5 game

The Baltimore Orioles have released a statement announcing that they will not move the date of their Sept. 5 game against the White Sox. The date for the game was also supposed to be the Ravens home opener. The statement claims both parties explored other options and compromises but could not find one.

Hosting the NFL regular-season opener at home is an honor traditionally bestowed upon the Super Bowl Champions. The tradition that has not been broken in the last decade will likely end with the Ravens. The NFL was expected to announce the Ravens' opponent for the Sept. 5 opener, but scheduling conflicts with the Orioles, who also have a Sept. 5 game in Baltimore, complicated the plans.

While the Orioles did have the Sept. 5 date scheduled against the White Sox, it was expected that to accommodate the NFL and the Ravens. The Ravens made several propositions to compromise, but there are overriding concerns about parking, traffic and crowd congestion.

Now the reigning Super Bowl Champions will open on the road Thursday night instead. Ravens coach John Harbaugh said that he would prefer to open on the road Thursday than at home on another night.

The complete statement from the Baltimore Orioles:

“The Orioles have great respect for the Super Bowl Champion Ravens and thank Major League Baseball, the MLB Players Association, and the White Sox for doing everything possible to work with us to explore all options to reschedule the September 5 game. We also appreciate the work of the NFL and the Ravens over the past several weeks as we attempted to accommodate the Ravens' interest in a game the same evening. 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."

https://twitter.com/Ourand_SBJ/status/315177971717656576

In response, the Baltimore Ravens official Twitter announced that the Ravens will officially open on the road due to a scheduling conflict.

https://twitter.com/Ravens/status/315179875919069185

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