Sporting Kansas City will kick off the team’s highly-anticipated 20th season at 6 p.m. on Sunday, March 8, at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., in a nationally televised rematch against the New York Red Bulls on FOX Sports 1, Major League Soccer announced on Friday.
Single-game tickets for Sporting Kansas City’s home opener and the full 2015 Major League Soccer schedule will be released at a later date. Individuals who place deposits for season tickets or group tickets for the 2015 season will receive priority consideration for securing single-game tickets to Sporting KC home matches in 2015. For additional ticket information, call 888-4KC-GOAL.
Sporting Kansas City’s season opener will feature a match-up of the top two goal scorers from the 2014 MLS season.
Sporting KC forward Dom Dwyer set the club’s single-season scoring record with 22 goals, while New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips tied the MLS single-season mark with 27 goals during the regular season. The two Englishman were each MLS All-Stars and both signed new contracts with their respective clubs after their record-setting seasons.
The opener will also mark Sporting Kansas City’s third straight match against the Red Bulls after ending the 2014 campaign with back-to-back games against Mike Petke’s side. The clubs met in the 2014 regular season finale and again in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round of the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs.
New York – unbeaten in five straight versus Sporting KC in the all-time series and four straight at Sporting Park – will be playing the first game since the retirement of club captain Thierry Henry, who led MLS with 19 assists in 2014 and was a four-time MLS All-Star to go along with three MLS Best XI selections.
Sporting Kansas City re-joins the Western Conference in 2015 and will open the team’s MLS campaign at home for the first time since 2010, where the team is 11-2-6 all-time in home openers. Both charter members of Major League Soccer dating back to the inaugural season in 1996, Sporting KC and New York will meet in Week 1 for the first time in the League history as part of the earliest regular season home game ever played in Kansas City.
FOX Sports — Major League Soccer’s newest broadcast partner — will carry the match on FOX Sports 1 as their first live broadcast over the course of an eight-year partnership.
MLS 2015 SCHEDULE – WEEK 1 (subject to change)
Friday, March 6
LA Galaxy vs. Chicago Fire (StubHub Center)
Saturday, March 7
D.C. United vs. Montreal Impact (RFK Stadium)
Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Toronto FC (BC Place)
Houston Dynamo vs. Columbus Crew SC (BBVA Compass Stadium)
Philadelphia Union vs. Colorado Rapids (PPL Park)
Portland Timbers vs. Real Salt Lake (Providence Park)
FC Dallas vs. San Jose Earthquakes (Toyota Stadium)
Sunday, March 8
Orlando City SC vs. New York City FC (Orlando Citrus Bowl)
Sporting Kansas City vs. New York Red Bulls (Sporting Park)
Seattle Sounders FC vs. New England Revolution (CenturyLink Field)
– Story from Sporting KC