honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, September 21, 2009

NFL: League says no plans for Packers-Vikings site swap


By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — The NFL said Monday it will not swap sites for this season's Packers-Vikings games in case the baseball playoffs get in the way at the Metrodome.

Green Bay plays at Minnesota on Monday night, Oct. 5, pitting Brett Favre against his old team in front of a national TV audience.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Twins trail Detroit by three games in the American League Central with 13 games left to play. If the two teams finish tied for first place, the Twins will host a tiebreaker game if they beat the Tigers in the overall season series. Minnesota leads 9-5, with four games remaining in Detroit next week.

The Twins and White Sox needed a 163rd game to decide the division last year, a game that was played in Chicago. Major League Baseball typically schedules tiebreaker games for the Monday right after the regular season because playoff series begin that week.

NFL spokesman Dan Masonson said the Packers-Vikings game next month will not be moved, however. Green Bay later hosts Minnesota on Nov. 1.

"There is no swap under consideration," Masonson said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "We are closely monitoring the situation."

Potential conflicts like this are nothing new for the Twins, who have shared the Metrodome with the Vikings since 1982 and will move to their own ballpark next spring.

"It would certainly be a fitting way to end our time in the Metrodome," Twins president Dave St. Peter said of the potential hassle.

Until this fall, the University of Minnesota also played football at the dome, forcing the Twins into plenty of 11 a.m. game times over the years. In 2004, a game was halted in the 11th inning during a September pennant drive because crews needed time to convert the field for football later that night.

St. Peter said he wasn't worried about this season, though.

"There's a long way to go before that's going to be a reality. That's the first thing I'd say," St. Peter said. "I suspect it'll sort itself out over the next week or so.

"We're more concerned about getting home-field advantage than what day the tiebreaker game would be played on."