Despite request, NFL gives Jets a home game on Rosh Hashanah

It will not be a happy start to the NFL season for some New York Jets fans, who may end up choosing to celebrate a religious holiday over celebrating touchdowns.

The NFL decided that the Jets will play a home game against the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 13 to start the season. This game coincides with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which starts that night and runs until Tuesday. That the NFL would start the Jets’ season at home on this date is beyond a head-scratcher, especially considering it had eight road games it could have chosen for the Jets for that week (though, the league also had to juggle the same issue with the New York Giants).

It is, simply put, a shmo decision.

New York City is home to an estimated 1.9 million Jewish people, making it the second largest Jewish metropolitan area in the world after Tel Aviv. There are also an estimated 516,450 New Jersey residents with a Jewish background, further impacting potential fans for the game. With this in mind, the team requested a road game to start the season due to the sensitivity of this issue with a large segment of its fanbase. But the NFL, which determines the schedule, did not comply.

The team did win over the league when it asked for a 1 p.m. start to the game if it had to begin the season at home. Since the holiday officially begins at sundown that Sunday evening, the team hopes any Jewish fans wishing to ring in the New Year will still be able to watch the Jets game before observing the day. The game will begin at 1 p.m.

Sunset is expected to be 7:09 p.m., hopefully giving fans enough time to leave MetLife Stadium and head to their homes for the start of the holiday.

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Kristian R. Dyer writes for Metro New York and is a contributor to Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KristianRDyer