Pitt vs. Delaware set for noon kickoff

The 2014 Pitt football campaign will begin on August 30 against the University of Delaware, and it was announced today that the game time will be at noon and will be carried by ESPN3. There has been much speculation on when the game would be due to the Pirates playing at PNC Park that day at an inconvenient 4:05 first pitch. Obviously with a 12:00 kickoff and a 4:05 nationally televised start to the Pirates game, it will still cause plenty of headaches for fans for both games.

The headaches can become nightmares if the Pirates find themselves in the playoff hunt once again, as they were drawing very well towards the end of last season, especially on weekends. Pitt football may not have a sellout against an FCS opponent like Delaware, but typically the first game draws pretty well overall. The parking situation will be interesting, because many of the pre-sold spots for Panther season ticket holders extend the whole way past PNC Park, and would certainly overlap with baseball parking.

It is not an ideal situation for either party, but at least Pitt did not come out and agree to play the game at 11:00 A.M. or anything like that. Along with the announcement for the Delaware game, Pitt will play their first ACC game less than a week later on Friday September 5 against Boston College on the road. The scheduled start for that game will be at 7:00 and nationally televised on ESPN. The road game against FIU has not been set in week three, and the only other known game time is for the Thursday night showdown against Virginia Tech on October 16 at 7:30 on ESPN.

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