By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Opening Day is going national this year. Because of that, it's also going to be pushed back a few hours.

The first pitch for the March 31 Cincinnati Reds opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates will be at 4:10 p.m. to accommodate a national broadcast on ESPN.

"We wanted to give the new ballpark national exposure," Reds chief operating officer John Allen said Friday. "That's what's behind it."

Opening Day 2003, of course, will be the first in Great American Ball Park. That attracted ESPN to the game.

"Opening Day in baseball is unlike any other sport," said ESPN director of programming Mike Ryan. "With the ballpark in Cincinnati, we wanted to be there."

The Reds-Pirates game is the second of two that will be aired on ESPN that day. The Chicago Cubs and New York Mets open the day with a 1 p.m. game.

ESPN2 will broadcast three more, including Los Angeles-Arizona at 4 p.m.

Major League Baseball set the actual schedule, Mr. Ryan said, and ESPN made the slots available.

The Findlay Market Parade, an Opening Day tradition, will go on.

"We're probably going to start it later," said Neil Luken, chairman of the parade committee. "We're still talking about it. When the game was at 1:05, we'd start at 10:30. When the game was at 2:15, we'd start at 11:30. We need a two-hour window for the parade."

E-mail jfay@enquirer.com

Reds 2003 Schedule