Vikings Won't Be Opening 2013 Season After All

Not long after the Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII, I speculated whether or not the Minnesota Vikings would be the Ravens' opponent to open the 2013 regular season. The AFC North and NFC North play each other in inter-conference play in 2013, and the Vikings are scheduled to make the road trip to Charm City during the season.

Well, it turns out that we don't need to concern ourselves with that any longer.

The Ravens, breaking the tradition that the NFL has had for the past decade or so, will not open the 2013 season at home, as they could not reach a resolution to a scheduling conflict with baseball's Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are scheduled to play the Chicago White Sox at home on Thursday, September 5, the scheduled opening of the 2013 NFL season. The Orioles refused to move their game, and the league did not want to play the game on Wednesday (like they did this past season to avoid conflicting with the Democratic National Convention) because that Wednesday is the start of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

I think this is pretty unfair to the Ravens. I know that there's really nothing that can be done about it, but part of winning the Super Bowl in recent years has been getting a big party in your home town and the right to raise your banner and play in front of your home fans. I think the fans in Baltimore deserved that opportunity, too.

So, the Vikings will still be traveling to Baltimore this season. It just won't be for the featured Thursday night match-up in Week 1, that's all.