Sunday is the the holiest day of the week in both Roman Catholicism and the National Football League. So what happens when each has their Sabbath fall on the same day? Pope Francis's visit to Philadelphia for the World Meeting of Families will be an extraordinary event for the City of Philadelphia potentially drawing millions for Sunday mass. Mix in some Phillies home games and the Eagles schedule became very complicated.
Peter King of Monday Morning Quarterback (mmqb.com) offered insight into the intricate process in which teams pick their
But late last week, one of those 136 computers the NFL used to divine potential 2015 season schedules—this one in the basement of the league’s Park Avenue offices, though others in New Jersey, North Carolina and California were in 24/7 use too, communicating with the league office via its cloud—deposited a proposed slate of the 256 regular-season games on the screens of the four men who annually work for four months to solve the intricate puzzle.
In Philadelphia, the Phillies found conflicts in both the Philadelphia Phillies games across the street from Lincoln Financial Field… and a visit from Pope Francis, leading to an Eagles schedule that has the team on the road three out of the first four weeks:
Phillies conflicts in Weeks 1 and 4, and a letter from Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput to commissioner Roger Goodell (the archbishop spelled it “Rodger”) last July 8 respectfully requested the NFL not play in Philadelphia on the Sunday of Week 3, the day Pope Francis is scheduled to hold a mass for an estimated 2 million people on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway outside the Philadelphia Art Museum. In October, Katz wrote the archbishop to say the Eagles would be out of town that weekend … 93 miles up the New Jersey Turnpike to play the Jets on that afternoon, Sept. 27.
Katz even made a joke about how even his Jewish name "Katz" did not keep him from accommodating the Pope.
The Phillies and Eagles have played the same day before. In 2008, the Phillies played game four of the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays at 8:00 p.m., after the Eagles defeated the Atlanta Falcons. In 2009, the Eagles blew out the New York Giants 40-17, and then the Phillies lost to the New York Yankees in game four of the World Series. In 2010, the San Francisco Giants came to town for the NLCS on October 17, and the two teams played after the Eagles defeated the Atlanta Falcons.
Pope John Paul II visited Philadelphia October 3 and 4, 1979. The Phillies and Eagles both were off. The Papal visit was on a Wednesday and Thursday, when no football games were played. The 1979 Phillies missed the playoffs and their season concluded on September 30.
