REAL SALT LAKE KICKS OFF 2017 CAMPAIGN ON SATURDAY, MARCH 4 AGAINST TORONTO FC
13th MLS Season Opens at Rio Tinto Stadium w/ 2:30 p.m. MT Kickoff Against East Champs, including MF Michael Bradley, FW Jozy Altidore & MF Sebastian Giovinco
SANDY, Utah (Wednesday, December 21, 2016) – Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer today announced the home openers for all 22 clubs for the 2017 season, with RSL opening its 13th MLS campaign at home against reigning Eastern Conference Champions Toronto FC at 2:30 p.m. MT at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, March 4. The complete 2017 MLS regular-season schedule, along with the national television schedules for the U.S. and Canada, will be announced in January, prior to the 2017 SuperDraft presented by adidas (Fri., Jan. 13 in Los Angeles).
Season Tickets for Real Salt Lake's 2017 campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium are now on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information. An overwhelming percentage of current Season Ticket Members have renewed prior to the early deadline, with several hundred STMs looking to upgrade locations and add seats for RSL's 13th year.
On Saturday, March 11, Real Salt Lake – which returns nine of 11 starters (including club icons Kyle Beckerman and Nick Rimando, as well as leading scorers Yura Movsisyan and Joao Plata) from 2016 and a core of 16 players for Head Coach Jeff Cassar after qualifying for the postseason for the eighth time in nine seasons – travel to Toyota Park in Chicago at 12:00 noon MT, visiting the Fire in that club’s home opener.
The March 4, 2017 date against Toronto will mark the club’s earliest non-CONCACAF Champions League opener in its 13 seasons. All-time, RSL is 5-0-7 in its previous 12 home-opening MLS matches, including a 4-0-4 mark at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, dating back to 2009. Only once before – on March 29, 2008 at Rice-Eccles Stadium – has RSL opened its MLS season with a contest on Utah soil.
RSL boasts an all-time 7-1-0 mark at home against Toronto FC, outscoring the “Reds” 19-8 and amassing seven consecutive victories since losing 1-2 on a late Collin Samuel penalty kick on July 4, 2007, at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In the clubs’ lone 2016 meeting, RSL dropped an 0-1 decision at remodeled BMO Field, as FW Toussaint Ricketts scored his first MLS goal for the 68’ game-winner.
Coming off a 2016 season that featured record numbers in both attendance and total television viewership, MLS’ 22nd season includes a pair of expansion clubs taking the field in new markets and the opening of a new world-class, soccer-specific venue in Orlando.
The 2017 season kicks off with a special, single match on Friday, March 3 when the expansion Minnesota United make their MLS debut on the road against the Portland Timbers, prior to a full slate of seven games on Saturday, March 4.
The weekend concludes with three matches on Sunday, March 5, beginning with the first game played at Orlando City SC’s new downtown stadium. Later that day, Atlanta United will open their inaugural MLS season, hosting the New York Red Bulls at Georgia Tech’s Bobby Dodd Stadium. Located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the historic stadium will serve as temporary home to Atlanta United until the club moves into the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium later in the year.
Week Two features the home opener of Minnesota United on March 12, when fellow expansion club Atlanta United visits TCF Bank Stadium on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Minnesota will play all 2017 home matches at TCF Bank Stadium until their soccer-specific stadium opens in 2018.
During the 2017 MLS regular season, each club will play 34 games, including 17 home games and 17 away games. Teams will face each of their 10 conference opponents twice during the season with one game at home and one game away. Clubs also will compete in select additional games against different conference opponents three times, and they will face non-conference opponents once.
2017 MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER HOME OPENERS
All times are MST and schedule is subject to change
WEEK 1
Friday, March 3, 2017 (home team listed first):
7:30 p.m. – Portland Timbers vs. Minnesota United FC (Providence Park)
Saturday, March 4, 2017 (home team listed first):
12 noon – Columbus Crew vs. Chicago Fire (MAPFRE Stadium)
2 p.m. – LA Galaxy vs. FC Dallas (StubHub Center)
2:30 p.m. – Real Salt Lake vs. Toronto FC (Rio Tinto Stadium)
4 p.m. – Colorado Rapids vs. New England Revolution (Dick’s Sporting Goods Park)
5 p.m. - D.C. United vs. Sporting Kanas City (RFK Stadium)
6:30 p.m. - Houston Dynamo vs. Seattle Sounders FC (BBVA Compass Stadium)
8 p.m. – San Jose Earthquakes vs. Montreal Impact (Avaya Stadium)
Sunday, March 5, 2016 (home team listed first):
3 p.m. – Orlando City SC vs. New York City FC (Orlando City SC Stadium)
5 p.m. – Atlanta United vs. New York Red Bulls (Bobby Dodd Stadium)
7:30 p.m. – Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Philadelphia Union (BC Place)
WEEK 2
Saturday, March 11
12 noon – New England Revolution vs. Orlando City SC (Gillette Stadium)
12 noon - Chicago Fire vs. Real Salt Lake (Toyota Park)
2 p.m. – New York Red Bulls vs. Colorado Rapids (Red Bull Arena)
2:30 p.m. – Philadelphia Union vs. Toronto FC (Talen Energy Stadium)
5 p.m. – Montreal Impact vs. Seattle Sounders FC (Olympic Stadium)
7 p.m. – Sporting Kansas City vs. FC Dallas (Children’s Mercy Park)
Sunday, March 12
12 noon – New York City FC vs. D.C. United (Yankee Stadium)
3 p.m. – Minnesota United FC vs. Atlanta United (TCF Bank Stadium)
WEEK 3
Saturday, March 18
6 p.m. – FC Dallas vs. New England Revolution (Toyota Stadium)
Sunday, March 19
5 p.m. – Seattle Sounders FC vs. New York Red Bulls (CenturyLink Field)
WEEK 5
Friday, March 31
7:30 p.m. – Toronto FC vs. Sporting Kansas City (BMO Field)
The 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season kicks off in April. Season Tickets for the Real Monarchs third season in 2017 are now on sale; please call 844.Real.Tix for more information. Coming in late Summer, 2017, Real Salt Lake's regional training center opens in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southeast of Rio Tinto Stadium.
The $50 million facility will serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman facility will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening in Fall, 2018, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
In mid-November in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen broke ground on the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum dedicated to the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
www.RSL.com