Los Angeles – FOX Sports 1 today unveils its inaugural regular-season Major League Soccer (MLS) television schedule with coverage beginning Sunday, March 8 with the first of three doubleheaders, this one featuring Sporting Kansas City at home against the New York Red Bulls (7:00 PM ET) followed by the Seattle Sounders facing Eastern Conference Champion New England Revolution (9:30 PM ET). In all, the schedule, which runs from March through October, consists of 34 matches, with 33 games scheduled for FOX Sports 1, one on FOX Sports 2, and most matches kicking-off in prime time at 7:00 PM ET Sundays.
Last May, FOX Sports 1 reached an eight-year, multi-platform media rights agreement with Major League Soccer (MLS) marking the league’s return to FOX Sports in 2015 after a four-year absence.
Nine of the MLS’ 15 US-based teams appear on FOX Sports 1 in the season’s first four weeks. The Red Bulls, Sounders and Orlando City FC, one of two new MLS teams this season, boasting Brazilian superstar Kaka, lead all clubs with six appearances, followed by the defending MLS Cup Champion and star-studded LA Galaxy with English superstar Steven Gerrard, first-year entrant New York City FC featuring Spain’s all-time leading scorer David Villa, Philadelphia and Portland, who each appear five times.
Orlando City FC makes their first FOX Sports 1 appearance on April 26 against Toronto FC (7:00 PM ET) in the season’s second doubleheader. The nightcap boasts the Pacific Northwest rivalry between Clint Dempsey’s Sounders and the Portland Timbers and (9:30 PM ET). These two teams have at each other again on June 28 in front of the Portland faithful. The channel’s final doubleheader on May 24 features Philadelphia Union-Red Bulls (5:00 PM ET) and Orlando City-San Jose Earthquakes at Levi’s Stadium (7:00 PM ET).
As for notable fixtures, FOX Sports carries a rematch of the championship game between the Galaxy and Revolution at Gillette Stadium on May 31 (7:00 PM ET). Other fixtures to flag include two of the three newly-minted rivalry games between the Red Bulls and New York City FC, the first of which comes May 10 (7:00 PM ET), and two of the three Seattle – LA Galaxy matchups, April 12 (7:00 PM ET) and October 4 (9:30 PM ET). The Earthquakes make their highly-anticipated debut in their state-of-the-art new home, Avaya Stadium, on March 22 against the Chicago Fire (7:00 PM ET). The lone match scheduled for FOX Sports 2 comes July 12, when the Colorado Rapids host Real Salt Lake (7:00 PM ET). See below for complete telecast schedule.
This season, MLS and its broadcast partners, including FOX Sports 1, introduce flex scheduling on the penultimate weekend of the regular season which allows the league and its media partners to decide the most impactful matches to telecast as the season draws to a close.
In addition to the flex scheduling, MLS also unveils its new “Decision Day” scheduling format on the last day of the regular season. On Sunday, Oct. 25, all five games in each conference are scheduled to be played at the same time, with Eastern Conference matches kicking-off at 5:00 PM ET and Western Conference games beginning at 7:00 PM ET. FOX Sports 1 is slated to televise an Eastern Conference match.
FOX Sports 1 and ESPN divide MLS CUP PLAYOFFS matches (outside of two games televised by Univision), and alternate televising the MLS CUP and AT&T MLS ALL-STAR GAME. Television plans for 2015 are expected at a later date.
All MLS games are simulcast on Spanish language network, FOX Deportes, and streaming on FOX Sports GO in Spanish. All matches on FOX Sports 1 and FOX Sports 2 are available to customers of participating pay-TV providers via the FOX Sports GO and FOX Soccer 2Go apps, and on the web through FOXSportsGO.com. FOX Sports GO is currently available for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire tablets and Fire phones and select Windows devices. Fans can download the mobile app for free from the iTunes App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store and Windows Store. Fans can also follow minute-by-minute commentary via @FOXSoccer and @FOXSoccerTrax Twitter accounts using #MLSonFOX.
