Happy Holiday's Union fans! MLS released all 34 teams schedules, and the Union now know who they will play in their upcoming season! Here's a first look at who the Union will take on in 2020! Mandatory Credit: Philadelphia Union.
The 2020 Schedule is Imbalanced
The Philadelphia Union plays 34 games as they have for the past few seasons, however, with MLS continuing to expand, the scheudle can no longer be "balanced".
The Union plays each team in their conference two times, both at home and away. That means they play 24 of their 34 matches against the 12 other teams in the eastern conference.
Philly will also play 10 of the 13 teams from the west; five of those games will be played at Talen Energy Stadium, and five will be on the road. Those teams the Union will face are:
@ Dallas@ LAFC, vs San Jose@ Portlandvs LA Galaxy@ Nashvillevs Sporting Kansas City@ Coloradovs Real Salt Lake vs Vancouver
This means the Union will not play games against Houston, Minnesota or Seattle in 2020.
An increase in nationally broadcasted Matches
The Union will be featured in SEVEN nationally televised games in 2020. This is a significant increase from season's past and is a testament to the style of soccer the Union plays! The Union will face off against these foes on national TV:
@ LAFC on FS1vs DC United on FS1@ Inter Miami on ESPNvs NYCFC on FS1@ New York Red Bulls on UniMas@Atlanta United on ESPN
These will be some marquee matches! The Union is still finalizing local broadcast information, single-game tickets sales and the 2020 promotional schedule, so be on the lookout for those soon! While this is very exciting there is plenty more to take away from this schedule release.
A consistent breakdown of matches; Only three midweek-games
In past years, the Union has been undone due to congestion in certain areas of the season and had trouble managing midweek games coming off of weekend games. It looks like this will not the case in 2020! The 2020 season will run from the last week of February to the first week of October! The breakdown of matches is consistent across each month of the season:
February and March - 5 MatchesApril - 5 MatchesMay - 6 MatchesJune - 4 MatchesJuly - 5 Matches August - 5 MatchesSeptember and October 4 Matches
This breakdown will help the Union be able to focus on those seven different chunks of the season for short-term goal setting!
On top of that Philly only play three midweek-games in 2020. All three of those games are the middle match of a three-game-in-eight-day stretch. These stretches will occur in April, May and July; but only having three of these in the season is a huge benefit!
Another great thing about this schedule is that after July 8th the team will play no games outside of the Eastern-Standard Time Zone! That will be a huge relief for Philly as they will be coming into the last 12 games of the season!
We will have more in-depth breakdowns of these matches here at Philly Sports Network as we head into 2020, but for now, let's all digest the upcoming season's schedule together and hope we hear some more news soon about players!
Have a happy Doopin' Holiday everyone, enjoy these great videos the Union's social media team put together breaking down the schedule release!
https://twitter.com/PhilaUnion/status/1207707794624917504
https://twitter.com/PhilaUnion/status/1207714757563879424
Philadelphia Union Full 2020 schedule:
DATE
OPPONENT
TIME (ET)
Saturday, Feb. 29
@ FC Dallas
6:00pm
Sunday, March 8 (FS1)
@ Los Angeles FC
10:30pm
Saturday, March 14
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
7:30pm
Sunday, March 22 (FS1)
D.C. UNITED
3:30pm
Saturday, March 28
@ Portland Timbers
10:30pm
Sunday, April 5 (ESPN)
@ Inter Miami CF
3:00pm
Saturday, April 11
MONTREAL IMPACT
1:00pm
Wednesday, April 15
LA GALAXY
TBD
Sunday, April 19 (FS1)
NEW YORK CITY FC
4:00pm
Saturday, April 25
@ Columbus Crew SC
7:30pm
Saturday, May 2
FC CINCINNATI
TBD
Saturday, May 9
ATLANTA UNITED FC
TBD
Wednesday, May 13
@ Nashville SC
8:00pm
Saturday, May 16
SPORTING KANSAS CITY
TBD
Saturday, May 23
@ Colorado Rapids
9:00pm
Saturday, May 30
COLUMBUS CREW SC
TBD
Saturday, June 6 (UniMas)
@ New York Red Bulls
6:00pm
Saturday, June 13
REAL SALT LAKE
TBD
Saturday, June 20 (ESPN)
@ Atlanta United FC
5:30pm
Saturday, June 27
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
6:00pm
Saturday, July 4
@ Montreal Impact
7:00pm
Wednesday, July 8
@ Chicago Fire FC
8:00pm
Saturday, July 11
TORONTO FC
7:30pm
Saturday, July 18
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
TBD
Saturday, July 25
@ Orlando City SC
7:30pm
Saturday, Aug. 1
INTER MIAMI CF
TBD
Saturday, Aug. 8
@ New York City FC
7:00pm
Saturday, Aug. 15
@ Toronto FC
6:00pm
Saturday, Aug. 22
@ D.C. United
8:00pm
Saturday, Aug. 29
ORLANDO CITY SC
TBD
Saturday, Sept. 12
@ New England Revolution
7:30pm
Saturday, Sept. 19
@ FC Cincinnati
7:30pm
Sunday, Sept. 27 (ESPN)
NEW YORK RED BULLS
TBD
Sunday, Oct. 4
CHICAGO FIRE FC
4:30pm
Be sure to come back to Philly Sports Network for more Philadelphia Union, Steel FC, and other soccer content!Follow our writers on Twitter:
Tim Lovenguth | Jeff Green | Matt McClain| Matt Nissenfeld
Peace out Union fans!
Mandatory Credit: Philadelphia Union
