Major League Soccer on Thursday announced its 2016 regular season schedule, a campaign that sees each of its 20 clubs play 34 matches beginning on March 6 and concluding on Oct. 25.
Seattle Sounders FC has 14 matches slated for a national television audience on ESPN and FOX’s family of networks, beginning with the Rave Green’s season-opener against Western Conference rival Sporting Kansas City on March 6 at CenturyLink Field (FS1).
Single-game tickets for the 2016 season will go on sale in February. Season-ticket packages are on sale now.
Three of Seattle’s six Cascadia Cup matches against the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps FC are set to be played at CenturyLink Field. All three Timbers fixtures are set to air on national television, headlined by a July 17 match at Providence Park on FOX, the first-ever MLS match broadcast on the free-to-air network.
The Sounders and reigning MLS Cup champion Timbers will meet at CenturyLink Field just once this season, on Sunday, Aug. 21. The match is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. PT kickoff and will be broadcast on FS1.
The Sounders will host their Western Conference rival LA Galaxy twice in July, as well as a final meeting at StubHub Center on Sept. 25, with all three Seattle-LA matches airing on ESPN.
The club’s final four matches of 2016 - as well as 11 of the last 12 - are against Western Conference opponents, culminating with a season-ending home clash against Real Salt Lake on Sunday, Oct. 23. Other 2016 season highlights include an early season showdown at CenturyLink Field against the reigning Eastern Conference champions Columbus Crew SC on April 30 along with New York City FC’s first-ever visit to Seattle on May 25.
A complete listing of Sounders FC home kickoff times will be announced at a later date, along with the club’s 2016 regional broadcast partner details. Sounders FC’s 14 nationally televised broadcasts are split evenly between ESPN and FOX’s platforms, with seven matches airing on ESPN, six on FS1 and one on FOX.
Big event schedule enhancements once again headline the 2016 MLS schedule. Along with the return of two editions of MLS Heineken Rivalry Week, showcasing the most anticipated rivalry matches of the season, the schedule creates unprecedented viewing events throughout the season from March to Soccer – culminating in a new Week One format – through the final weeks of the season with action-packed, simultaneous starts for Week 33 and Decision Day.
All 340 regular season games are also being broadcast internationally. MLS now reaches more than 140 nations and territories through the league’s global broadcast partners which include Sky Sports in the UK, pan-European broadcaster Eurosport, Globosat in Brazil, Abu Dhabi Media in the Middle East and North Africa, Letv Sports in mainland China, beIN SPORTS across Southeast Asia and Australia, FOX Sports Latin America, FOX Sports Africa, and ESPN across their international platforms in Latin America, the Caribbean and Oceania.
Sounders FC begins its preseason preparation for the 2016 campaign this month before the club takes part in a series of Desert Friendlies in Tucson against the Whitecaps, Timbers and Mexican side Celaya FC in early February. Seattle’s eighth season begins in late February with the 2015-2016 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinal Round against Club America before the MLS season-opener on March 6.
