NBC New York has the story behind the Yom Kippur time change for the Sept. 27 Yankees-Red Sox game. This is the third event we’ve heard about being moved due to the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. The Jets game and a U2 concert already have been changed. Imagine how much trouble could have been saved if they’d just checked their yeshiva calendars…
Major League Baseball gave in to ESPN’s wishes and agreed to change the start time of the final Yankees-Red Sox game of the season so that it could appear on Sunday Night Baseball on September 27th. The only problem with that, beyond the fact that the game might not wind up meaning all that much, is that is also the first night of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year to Jews.
After an outcry, sources said the Sept. 27 game was returning to its original start time of 1 p.m.
Yom Kippur starts at sundown, which makes it impossible for anyone who observes the holiday to watch the game. Now, for some of us the chance to avoid listening to Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips would be a sign that the big guy upstairs was rewarding us for a year well lived, but those who bought tickets to the game may not be so pleased with the higher powers. They bought tickets to a game scheduled to start at 1 p.m., and there is sure to be a fair number that wouldn’t have bought the tickets if the later start was set in April.
In many cities featuring Major League Baseball, that wouldn’t be such a major problem but, as you’re probably aware, New York isn’t one of those cities. Neither is Boston, for that matter, which makes the whole thing a pretty substantial blunder by both the league and network, especially since the NFL went through the same exact thing after they scheduled a Jets game at 4:15 on the 27th.
Full story here.
