GAME ON!
- See the 2017 RSL schedule for the MLS season below and buy your tickets now!
- If you would like to sync the schedule to your phone, tablet or desktop click here!
SANDY, Utah (Thursday, January 12, 2017) – In conjunction with Major League Soccer, today Real Salt Lake announced its 2017 regular-season schedule, unveiling the club’s 34-game league slate for its 13th MLS season.
The 17-game home calendar features the club's annual Fireworks games to celebrate Independence Day (Friday, June 30 v. Orlando City SC on ESPN, the worldwide leader’s first visit to Utah since Nov., 2013) and Pioneer Day (Saturday, July 22 against Sporting Kansas City), the defending MLS Cup champion Seattle Sounders FC on Sat., Sept. 23 and a stretch that sees a Saturday-heavy home slate, with only one Sunday home game – part of MLS “Decision Day” on the final weekend of the season – and just two midweek home contests.
As previously announced, Real Salt Lake opens the league season at home against reigning Eastern Conference Champions Toronto FC at 2:30 p.m. MT at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday, March 4. Visit www.RSL.com or call 844.Real.Tix to access seats, starting at $25 and up, depending on location, in the heavily-anticipated matchup.
The 2017 schedule – which now includes expansion sides Minnesota United and Atlanta United, both of whom face RSL in April – sees RSL host six Eastern Conference sides on Utah visits, while traveling East on five occasions. Each of the remaining 10 Western Conference foes will engage in a home-and-away series with RSL, with the club’s three additional games being played against rivals Colorado Rapids (against whom it has won eight of the last 10 Rocky Mountain Cups), Sporting Kansas City (where RSL won twice away in 2016 after falling in MLS Cup 2013) and LA Galaxy (which has eliminated RSL from the postseason in both 2014 and 2016 after RSL emerged in MLS Cup 2009 and in the 2013 playoffs).
RSL kicks off the year with three of its first five games on the road, prior to a 10-week stretch from April 1 to May 27 that sees RSL alternate home and away. Following Memorial Day Weekend, RSL plays five of its next seven MLS contests on the road through mid-July, returning home just after the MLS hiatus observed for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. However, RSL’s Pioneer Day spectacular against Sporting Kansas City on July 22 kicks off a run that sees Head Coach Jeff Cassar’s club host five its next seven MLS matches at Rio Tinto Stadium, where Real Salt Lake has enjoyed a prominent home-field advantage since building its permanent home in Sandy, boasting a 97-21-40 mark in the building after opening in October, 2008.
Following mid-August trips East to face D.C. United (Sat., Aug. 12) and Montreal Impact (Sat., Aug. 19), RSL’s final eight games of the 2017 campaign are all against Western Conference foes. RSL will initially see seven of its 10 West opponents on the road in 2017, prior to return legs in Utah. Only the LA Galaxy (Sat., March 18 in the season’s third match), Vancouver Whitecaps (Sat., April 8) and FC Dallas (led by former RSL veteran Javier Morales on Sat., May 6) arrive on the Wasatch for the clubs’ first 2017 meeting.
The fan-created Rocky Mountain Cup series against the rival Colorado Rapids will feature just one match at Rio Tinto Stadium – Saturday, August 26 (8:00 p.m. MT kickoff) – with two road trips to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday, April 15, and on Sunday, October 15, the penultimate week of the 2017 MLS regular season.
Against Eastern Conference foes this season, Rio Tinto Stadium will play host to MLS Cup finalist Toronto FC, the expansion side Atlanta United (Sat., April 22), third-year side New York City FC featuring reigning MLS MVP David Villa (Wed., May 17), Philadelphia Union (Sat., May 27), the Jason Kreis-led Orlando City FC (Fri., June 30 w/ fireworks) and the Columbus Crew SC (Sat., July 29).
Throughout a nine-month regular season that sees RSL observe three of four possible FIFA breaks (no games June 5-13, Aug. 28-Sept. 5 and Oct. 2-10), the club will endure a trio of three-game week, including twice in May, the only month that sees RSL play six games.
From May 13-20, RSL visits both coasts (May 13 at New England, May 20 at Seattle) on either side of a midweek home match on May 17 against NYCFC. On Memorial Day Weekend in late May, RSL hosts the Philadelphia Union on Saturday the 27th prior to its “Texas Two-Step” road trip on Wednesday, May 31 in Houston and Saturday, June 3 in Dallas.
RSL’s final three-game week of the year occurs in mid-August, as a trip to Montreal on Saturday the 19th is followed by home games on Wednesday the 23rd against San Jose and Saturday the 26th against Colorado.
Real Salt Lake returns nine of 11 starters (including club icons Kyle Beckerman, Major League Soccer’s all-time field player leader in Games/Minutes and Nick Rimando, the all-time MLS goalkeeping leader in Wins, Shutouts, Games and Minutes), as well as leading scorers Yura Movsisyan and Joao Plata from last year, after qualifying for the postseason for the eighth time in nine seasons.
Along with a core of 16 returning players for 2017 under the guidance of Head Coach Jeff Cassar, RSL recently added Slovakian playmaker Albert Rusnák, goalkeeper Matt VanOekel and homegrown talent Jose Hernandez to the roster, with additional moves expected prior to the club’s January 23 preseason trip to Arizona.
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. The Rio Tinto Stadium box office is open Mon.-Fri., 10a-6p; more information can be found online at www.RSL.com/Tickets. Current or interested RSL Royalty Season Ticket Members can purchase extra tickets at preferred pricing or gain assistance via the Fan Relations Hotline at 801-727-2702.
Dates and times for international exhibitions and the club’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup participation will be announced in the near future.
The March 4, 2017 home 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.
The 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season kicks off in late March. 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.
