Sporting Kansas City releases full 2015 schedule
The release of the 2015 Major League Soccer schedule Wednesday confirmed the inevitable for Sporting Kansas City.
A move to the Western Conference will supply the club with a daunting slate of matches.
Sporting KC will play three games against Seattle, Houston, Real Salt Lake, FC Dallas, Portland and Colorado in 2015, and it will see the LA Galaxy, San Jose and Vancouver twice.
The New York Red Bulls will visit Sporting Park for the season opener on March 8, a match that was announced last month as part of the opening-weekend slate. That will highlight one of 10 nationally-televised matches for Sporting KC, which will be featured on ESPN2, Fox Sports 1 and UniMas after the three networks signed eight-year agreements with the league that run through the 2022 season. KMCI-TV will broadcast the remaining 24 regular season matches.
Sporting KC will face each Eastern Conference club once in 2015 as the league celebrates its 20th season.
The LA Galaxy and Chicago Fire will kick off the MLS season on March 6. The Galaxy will make the trip to Sporting Park on Oct. 25 to close out the regular season.
That will serve as the precursor to a new playoff format in 2015, in which 12 teams will make the postseason. The top two seeds from each conference will qualify for the conference semifinals, with the lower four seeds from each conference playing in single-elimination knockout games.
The conference semifinals will begin Oct. 31. The full playoff schedule will be announced at a later date, the league said in a news release.
Sporting KC will compete in 16 matches in the first 15 weeks of the season before its first bye week in June.
With the move west, Sporting KC and Real Salt Lake will provide three rematches of their 2013 MLS Cup meeting. Real Salt Lake will visit Sporting Park on April 11 before Sporting KC makes return trips to Utah on June 21 and July 24.
Sporting Park will play host to its 100th Sporting KC match on May 16, when the club welcomes Colorado to Kansas City.
To reach Sam McDowell, call 816-234-4869 or send email to smcdowell@kcstar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SamMcDowell11.
Date | Opponent | Time | TV |
Sun., March 8 | vs. New York Red Bulls | 6 p.m. | FOX Sports 1 |
Sat., March 14 | at FC Dallas | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., March 21 | vs. Portland Timbers | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., March 28 | at New York City FC | TBD | SKCTV |
Sun., April 5 | vs. Philadelphia Union | 6 p.m. | FOX Sports 1 |
Sat., April 11 | vs. Real Salt Lake | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., April 18 | at LA Galaxy | 9:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., April 25 | at Houston Dynamo | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., May 3 | vs. Chicago Fire | 4 p.m. | ESPN2 |
Sat., May 9 | at D.C. United | 6 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., May 16 | vs. Colorado Rapids | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Wed., May 20 | vs. New England Revolution | 7 p.m. | ESPN2 |
Sat., May 23 | at Seattle Sounders | TBD | SKCTV |
Fri., May 29 | vs. FC Dallas | 8 p.m. | UniMas/KMCI-TV |
Sat., June 6 | vs. Seattle Sounders | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., June 21 | at Real Salt Lake | 9 p.m. | FOX Sports 1 |
Sat., June 27 | vs. Colorado Rapids | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., July 12 | at Vancouver Whitecaps | TBD | SKCTV |
Sat., July 18 | vs. Montreal Impact | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Fri., July 24 | at Real Salt Lake | 10 p.m. | UniMas/KMCI-TV |
Sat., Aug. 1 | vs. Houston Dynamo | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., Aug. 8 | at Toronto FC | TBD | SKCTV |
Sat., Aug. 15 | vs. Vancouver Whitecaps | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Wed., Aug. 19 | vs. San Jose Earthquakes | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., Aug. 22 | at Columbus Crew SC | 6:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sat., Aug. 29 | at Colorado Rapids | 8 p.m. | SKCTV |
Wed., Sept. 9 | at Portland Timbers | 9:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., Sept. 13 | at Orlando City SC | 6 p.m. | FOX Sports 1 |
Fri., Sept. 18 | vs. FC Dallas | 6 p.m. | UniMas/KMCI-TV |
Wed., Sept. 23 | at Houston Dynamo | 7:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., Sept. 27 | vs. Seattle Sounders | 4 p.m. | ESPN2 |
Sat., Oct. 3 | at Portland Timbers | 9:30 p.m. | SKCTV |
Fri., Oct. 16 | at San Jose Earthquakes | 10 p.m. | SKCTV |
Sun., Oct. 25 | vs. LA Galaxy | 6 p.m. | SKCTV |
This story was originally published January 7, 2015 at 1:41 PM with the headline "Sporting Kansas City releases full 2015 schedule."