A lot of people have been asking what's up with the 3:10 p.m. scheduled start time for the Brewers' game today against the Cardinals.

Some suggested that it had to do with the glut of state sporting events scheduled for today (aside from the Brewers-Cardinals tilt, the Packers host Kansas City in their final exhibition game and the Badgers open their season with a nationally-televised game against UNLV at Camp Randall Stadium) or a possible permanent switch to new start times beginning next year.

None of those theories turned out to be true. The reason for the 3:10 p.m. start, according to Brewers' VP of business operations Rick Schlesinger, is more about kids' return to school than anything else.

"It's a getaway day for us," Schlesinger said. "We have a night game in Houston Friday and usually, during the season, we'll start at 1:10 p.m. for a Thursday getaway day to let our team to finish the game here and arrive in the next city at a reasonable hour.

"Because of school and whatnot, we decided to try something a little different. We probably would have sold more tickets with a night game Thursday but we're selling more tickets for tomorrow than we would have with a 1:10 p.m. start."

Some wondered if the start time was an experiment of sorts. Some fans had emailed me in recent days saying that they had been surveyed by the team about possible new start times for the 2012 season.

Schlesinger confirmed that the team explored possible time changes but ultimately decided against them and that the game Thursday is more of a one-shot deal than it is a test.

"We were surveying fans on a different topic, about slightly moving games back a little bit," Schlesinger said. "We are not going to do that, based on our research and survey results. We're going to keep the game times for next year consistent.

"It's just kind of a unique thing. We're not looking to do too many of those next year."

For those wondering, the game will be broadcast as usual on FS Wisconsin as well as the Brewers Radio Network.