It took about a week longer than normal, but MLS has released its 2011 schedule. The regular season features 306 games, all of which will be televised live, either locally or nationally. First Kick will be March 15 when the Seattle Sounders host the LA Galaxy and will finish on Oct. 23 when the Houston Dynamo host the Galaxy. As expected, no playoff format or dates were announced, but the league promised them in the "near future."
MLS Releases 2011 Schedule, Promises Playoff Format In ‘Near Future’
The only time all 18 teams will play on the same day is March 26, which will feature a MLS record nine matches. Every other week will feature games on at least two different days, and every day of the week will have at least one game played on it at some point in the season. Still, the league scheduled a lower percentage of games on weekdays than in years past, as 82 percent of regular season games will now be played on Saturday or Sunday.
In an attempt to more closely adhere to the international schedule, MLS left several dates open, including two weekends. No MLS games are scheduled for Aug. 10 (a Wednesday) or on the weekends of Sept. 3-4 and Oct. 8-9. The complete MLS schedule can be viewed at MLSsoccer.com.
While MLS and Fox Soccer Channel are still negotiating a TV deal for national broadcasts of Saturday night games, it was announced that ESPN will feature 21 matches, 17 of which will be on ESPN2 and all of which will be on ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com. Among the ESPN and ESPN2 games are a Fourth of July double-header: Real Salt Lake will host the New England Revolution and the Sounders will visit Home Depot Center for a match against the Galaxy. The ESPN/ESPN2 contract also creates eight windows for friendlies between MLS teams and international opponents.
The other contracted national broadcaster, the Univision family of channels, will broadcast 30 matches. Of those, 20 will be on Galavision and 10 will be on Telefutura. More of these games will be on weekends than in the past.
Among the big rivalries, there also appears to have been an attempt to schedule most of them on weekends. All six Cascadia Cup matches, both Super Clasico matches and both El Capitan matches are scheduled for Saturday or Sunday.
Schedule of various rivalry matches (all times Eastern)
I-95 Corridor
- Saturday, March 26 – New England Revolution vs. D.C. United, 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, April 9 – Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls, 7 p.m. (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Thursday, April 21 – D.C. United vs. New York Red Bulls, 8 p.m. (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Saturday, July 9 – New York vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, July 20 – D.C. United vs. New England Revolution, 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Aug. 28 – Philadelphia Union vs. New England Revolution, 7 p.m. (Galavisión)
- Thursday, Sept. 29 – Philadelphia Union vs. D.C. United (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Thursday, Oct. 20 – Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
SuperClásico
- Saturday, May 21 – Chivas USA vs. LA Galaxy, 10 p.m. (ESPN, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Sunday, Oct. 16– LA Galaxy vs. Chivas USA, 9 p.m. (ESPN, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
Rocky Mountain Cup
- Wednesday, April 13 – Real Salt Lake vs. Colorado Rapids, 9 p.m. ET
- Friday, Oct. 14 – Colorado Rapids vs. Real Salt Lake, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
Battle for El Capitán (Texas rivalry)
- Saturday, May 28 – Houston Dynamo vs. FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 24 – FC Dallas vs. Houston Dynamo, 4 p.m. (TeleFutura)
Cascadia Cup
- Saturday, May 14 – Seattle Sounders FC vs. Portland Timbers, 11 p.m. (ESPN2, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Saturday, June 11 – Seattle Sounders FC vs. Vancouver, 10 p.m.
- Sunday, July 10 – Portland Timbers vs. Seattle Sounders FC, 5 p.m. (ESPN, Deportes, ESPN3.com)
- Saturday, Aug. 20 – Portland Timbers vs. Vancouver, 10 p.m.
- Saturday, Sept. 24 – Vancouver vs. Seattle Sounders FC, 7:30 p.m.
- Sunday, Oct. 2 – Vancouver vs. Portland Timbers, 4:30 p.m.
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