Tigers-Athletics Series Forces NFL to Move Oakland Raiders Game to Sunday Night

Jun 26, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; The Oakland Athletics take the field before the game against the Cincinnati Reds at O.Co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports

According to Dan Hanzus of NFL.com, the Oakland Raiders are moving their game to late on Sunday night due to the scheduled Saturday night ALDS game between the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics.

"To provide stadium employees the proper time necessary for the conversion from a baseball configuration to football, the Raiders announced Monday that the NFL game has been moved from 4:25 p.m. to 11:35 p.m. ET on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on NFL Network as well as an over-the-air station locally, if sold out per the league’s blackout rules."

That’s an 8:35 PM local time start for the football game, which isn’t so bad, but it’s still funny to me to see an NFL game scheduled to kickoff at 11:35 PM on the east coast. Apparently it takes a long time to get the stadium ready to host a football game.

I’m a baseball-first guy, so it gives me great joy anytime the NFL has to work around MLB’s schedule. Football is king in the United States, I’ll readily admit that, but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun when baseball – and even better the Detroit Tigers – can participate in kicking around the sporting giant a little bit.

This is the second time this season that an MLB game has caused a shift in the NFL schedule. The Baltimore Ravens had to open the season on the road in Denver when the traditional Thursday Night home opener for the defending Super Bowl Champions coincided with a Baltimore Orioles home game.

Go baseball! Go Tigers!