Report: 2013 NFL Schedule to be released April 16

By Kevin Kelley -
Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore will open the 2013 season on the road. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013 NFL schedule will be released on April 16, according to sports business reporter John Ourand. The opponents for each NFL team are already known, but the dates have yet to be announced.

One thing that is known is that the Baltimore Ravens will open the season on the road instead of at M&T Bank Stadium. Since 2002, the defending Super Bowl champion has hosted the NFL Kickoff Game, which is usually held on a Thursday night.

However, the Baltimore Orioles are scheduled to host a game at Camden Yards on Thursday, September 5, which is the same date as the 2013 NFL Kickoff Game. Since the M&T Bank Stadium and Camden Yards are adjacent and share parking lots, the logistics could not be worked out for both games to be played simultaneously.

“After thorough discussions among the Orioles, the NFL and the Ravens, it became clear that holding both an Orioles’ game and the Ravens’ regular season opener on the same day would create logistical situations that would cause serious issues for the city of Baltimore, and fans for both teams,” Ravens Team President Dick Cass said.

“The Ravens greatly appreciate the willingness of the Orioles to adjust the start of their game in an effort to make this sports spectacular happen. But, in the end, anticipated problems with parking, rush-hour traffic, plus crowd and car congestion around Oriole Park and M&T Bank Stadium, will keep the doubleheader from taking place.”

The Ravens’ other two options for hosting the opener were Wednesday and Sunday, but neither worked out. Wednesday, Sept. 4 is the start of Rosh Hashanah, and the Orioles have a home game on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 1 p.m.

Baltimore will open on the road against either an AFC North foe (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Pittsburgh), Denver, Detroit, Chicago, Miami or Buffalo.

The 2013 NFL Schedule already has two match-ups set for Wembley Stadium in London, UK. Minnesota will face Pittsburgh on Sunday, Sept. 29, followed by Jacksonville taking on San Francisco on Sunday, Oct. 27.

Update (4/15/13)

Pro Football Talk has reported that the 2013 NFL schedule release has been delayed a week or two.

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Comments (14)

They can’t open at night. They are the “Kick-Off Game”. How are you going to have a season kick-off after most the league has already played?

Sucks how Baltimore has to get the short end of the stick seeing as how they won the Super Bowl last year, but things could be worse. I still think Joe “the bum” Flacco was incredibly overpaid. That being said, Ozzie does an outstanding job as a GM and I love both the Harbaugh’s as coaches.

My money is on Denver. NFL will not pass on the opportunity to have Peyton Manning on opening night.

i would like to see baltimore at denver on opening ight i am going to pick denver to win the afc. baltimore did knock denver out the playoffs so y not have that match up on opening night

We had a ALDS Game 3 here in Arlington that started at 1pm I believe. The Cowboys had a home game the same day at 3pm. The two teams do share parking lots, although each team has their own exclusive parking areas as well. It was a matter of deciding the Rangers were going to drop this game in the 8th inning, changing from my Michael Young jersey to my Jason Witten jersey and walking across the street. So, no traffic inbound as we were tailgating for the Rangers playoff game. Then after the Cowboy game I had a nice, drunken walk back across the street to the Ballpark and went home in 15 minutes. I was amazed that traffic wasnt a nightmare when 55,000 baseball fans and 90,000 football fans converged concurrently. Awesome day for sports in Arlington. Folks in Baltimore would have loved it if the city could have pulled this off.

The problem is parking……how are people supposed to be parked and tailgating for a night game when the Baseball fans are still parked there till 5 pm.

Why does the start of Rosh Hashanah have such an impact on a football game? We’ve had games on December 31st/January 01st

The schedule should come out earlier so us fan can schedule vacations for some road trips

Philadelphia sometimes has baseball, football, and hockey on the same day, same area, whats the big deal