Real Salt Lake UNVEILs 2009 REGULAR-season Schedule
Western Conference Finalist RSL Kicks Off Rio Tinto Stadium
Slate April 2 vs. Defending Champion Columbus;
2009 MLS All-Star Game Calls Wasatch Home Wednesday, July 29;
SANDY, Utah (Wednesday, January 28, 2009) – Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer today unveiled the fifth-year team's regular-season slate for the upcoming 2009 campaign, with the Thursday, April 2 Home Opener marking the season's Rio Tinto Stadium debut. Kicking off at 7:00 p.m. MT and televised live on ESPN2, RSL hosts defending MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew and Argentine MLS Most Valuable Player Guillermo Barros Schelotto. The team's "Carnival Real" festivities on the East Lawn (bordering State Street) continue in 2009, opening 2 hours prior to kickoff on Opening Day and 60 minutes prior to kickoff for most other RSL games.
Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis' team receives a bye week during Major League Soccer's initial 2009 weekend before kicking off the season on Saturday, March 28 in the Pacific Northwest against the expansion Seattle Sounders FC, the League's 15th team. RSL, which advanced to the Western Conference Final last fall in the team's first-ever postseason run, then plays five of its next eight league matches at home. Other bye weekends during campaign include Saturday, July 11 and October 10 and 17.
Real Salt Lake's 2009 schedule is highlighted by the much-anticipated 2009 Major League Soccer All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 29 at 7:00 p.m., featuring the League's top performers banding together against an elite international club. The opponent for the All-Star Game's 14th edition, a schedule of ancillary events surrounding the match and other details will be announced in the near future. Recent MLS All-Star opponents have included world-class sides such as Chelsea, Fulham and West Ham (all from England), Celtic (Scotland) and Chivas de Guadalajara (Mexico).
Also in the month of July and for the fifth consecutive season, RSL will offer post-event fireworks as a continuation of the team's Independence Day and Pioneer Day traditions, welcoming the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, July 4 and hosting a Pioneer Day spectacular against FC Dallas on Friday, July 24. Both holiday events kickoff times are TBD, allowing for fireworks displays to blast off during the requisite darkness.
Saturday nights represent game night for the 2009 Real Salt Lake campaign, with 26 of 30 game dates – including 11 of 15 at home – occurring on either weekends or holidays. RSL has three (3) Wednesday night home events, as well as the Thursday night home opener. On four occasions – April 2 and 11 (Columbus and D.C. United), June 27 and July 4 (Toronto FC and San Jose Earthquakes), August 8 and 15 (Seattle Sounders FC and Houston Dynamo) and on October 14 and 24 (New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids) – RSL hosts back-to-back MLS games at its Rio Tinto Stadium home. In late May and mid-June, RSL plays a pair of back-to-back road games (May 23 and 30; June 13 and 20), but the team's longest road stretch of the year takes place from Sept. 19 – Oct. 3, traveling to Houston, Dallas and Toronto on a trio of consecutive weekends.
Real Salt Lake faces its 14 MLS opponents once each at home and on the road, with additional games against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids (at home) and 2006/2007 MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo (on the road) to give RSL its 30-game regular season. For the third consecutive season, RSL ends the year with the deciding Rocky Mountain Cup match against Colorado, although 2009 marks the first year in which that critical and potentially playoff-determining match is played on the Wasatch Front.
RSL will be featured on national television six times during its fifth campaign, as the 2009 MLS season once again, for the third consecutive year, places the entirety of its schedule – 225 games across the 15-team League in 2009 – on either national or regional television. Real Salt Lake's regional broadcast schedule is currently being finalized and will be unveiled in the near future. The entire MLS schedule, including individual team schedules, is available at http://www.mlsnet.com/.
The Western Conference Finalsts appear on Major League Soccer's ESPN2 schedule just twice in 2009 – the home opener on April 2 vs. Columbus and in an October 14 rematch against the New York Red Bulls – although Rio Tinto Stadium will receive international exposure via the network on a third occasion during the July 29 MLS All-Star festivities.
Real Salt Lake is featured on four of Fox Soccer Channel's __ regular-season games, each one in a three-hour programming window entitled "MLS Saturday on FSC" and all four originating from Utah, as RSL hosts its Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Colorado Rapids on Saturday, June 6 at 8:00 p.m. at Rio Tinto Stadium. FSC also emanates live from Utah three times in the final half of the year – Saturday, August 15 vs. Houston Dynamo at 7:30 p.m. MT; Saturday, September 12 vs. Chicago Fire at 7:00 p.m.; and in the 2009 season finale, deciding the Rocky Mountain Cup against Colorado on Saturday, October 24. Fox Soccer Channel's on-site coverage will again include MLS's only 30-minute pre-game show and 30-minute post-game show.
Real Salt Lake returns 12 of the 14 players who appeared in last November's Western Conference Final against New York; despite outshooting the Red Bulls by a 24-11 margin and hitting the post three times, RSL dropped that game, 0-1, missing out on a trip to MLS Cup. However, the team's maiden postseason voyage was a success, winning the West semifinal series against higher-seeded rival CD Chivas USA.
The 2008 season was the team's most successful yet, notching a 10-10-10 mark and clinching the #3 seed in the West with a dramatic 90th-minute goal by FW Yura Movsisyan. Team MVP and emerging Argentine playmaker Javier Morales is back, signed through 2012 along with imposing Colombian DF Jamison Olave. Captain Kyle Beckerman is joined by a slew of MLS veterans, such as DF Nat Borchers, DF Chris Wingert (fresh off his first-ever appearance for the U.S. National Team), Cup-winning and shot-stopping GK Nick Rimando, MF Andy Williams (RSL's lone player remaining from the team's inaugural season) and MF Clint Mathis, while young RSL stars on the rise include versatile D/M Robbie Russell, MF Will Johnson, FW Robbie Findley and DF Tony Beltran.
The best way to ensure a close look at RSL's fifth MLS season – and currently the only way to secure tickets for opening night at Rio Tinto Stadium on April 2 against Columbus – is to become a Real Salt Lake Season Ticket holder. RSL Season Ticket packages for the club's first full season at its new Sandy home, Rio Tinto Stadium, start at just $300, with benefits including:
• Tickets to RSL's 15 MLS regular season games and additional exhibitions (TBD)
• First right of refusal for additional events taking place at Rio Tinto Stadium throughout 2009
• 25% off all merchandise purchased at the RSL Team Store at Rio Tinto Stadium
• A group rate for any additional tickets to RSL matches
• An invitation to the annual RSL Meet the Team event
• Access to a Personal Account Service Manager
• A free RSL gift (TBD)
For more information on how to become an RSL Season Ticket holder in time for kickoff this spring, contact the RSL Front Office at 801-727-2701 or visit http://www.riotintostadium.com/.
Real Salt Lake's complete 2009 MLS regular-season schedule follows:
REAL SALT LAKE 2009 SCHEDULE
Day Date Matchup Time (MT) TV Note:
Sat. March 28 @ Seattle Sounders FC 8:30
THU. APRIL 2 COLUMBUS CREW 7:00 ESPN2
SAT. APRIL 11 D.C. UNITED 4:00
Sat. April 18 @ New York Red Bulls 5:30
SAT. APRIL 25 NE REVOLUTION 7:00
Sat. May 2 @ Colorado Rapids 7:30
WED. MAY 6 LOS ANGELES GALAXY 7:00
Sat. May 9 @ CD Chivas USA 8:30
SAT. MAY 16 KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 7:00
Sat. May 23 @ D.C. United 5:30
Sat. May 30 @ San Jose Earthquakes 8:30
SAT. JUNE 6 COLORADO RAPIDS 8:00 FSC
Sat. June 13 @ Los Angeles Galaxy 8:30
Sat. June 20 @ Houston Dynamo 6:30
SAT. JUNE 27 TORONTO FC 7:30
SAT. JULY 4 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 7:00
Sat. July 18 @ Columbus Crew 6:00
FRI. JULY 24 FC DALLAS 8:00
WED. JULY 29 2009 MLS ALL-STAR GAME 7:00 ESPN2
Sat. Aug. 1 @ Chicago Fire 6:30
SAT. AUG. 8 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC 7:00
SAT. AUG. 15 HOUSTON DYNAMO 7:00 FSC
Sun. Aug. 23 @ New England Revolution TBD
WED. AUG. 26 CHIVAS USA 7:00
Sat. Aug. 29 @ Kansas City Wizards 6:30
SAT. SEPT. 12 CHICAGO FIRE 7:00 FSC
Sat. Sept. 19 @ Houston Dynamo 6:30
Sat. Sept. 26 @ FC Dallas 6:30
WED. OCT. 14 NEW YORK RED BULLS 8:00 ESPN2
Sat. Oct. 17 @ Toronto FC 1:30
SAT. OCT. 24 COLORADO RAPIDS 7:00
(Home games in BOLD CAPS; road games in italics; all times p.m./MT;
schedule subject to change; please visit www.RealSaltLake.com or http://www.riotintostadium.com/ for latest news and info)
2009 MLS CUP PLAYOFF SCHEDULE:
Thu-Sun, Oct. 29-Nov. 1 MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Semifinals, Leg 1
Thu-Sun, Nov. 5-8 MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Semifinals, Leg 2
Thu-Sun, Nov. 12-15 MLS Cup Playoffs – Conference Finals
Sun, Nov. 22 MLS Cup 2009 @ site TBD
2009 REAL SALT LAKE PRESEASON SCHEDULE
Thurs., Jan. 29: Players report to Utah for entrance physicals / fitness testing
Fri., Jan. 30: Media Day at Rio Tinto Stadium – 1:00 – 6:00 p.m. MT
Jan. 30-31: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)
Feb. 2-14: Preseason Trip #1 to Oxnard/Ventura, Calif.
Sun., Feb. 8 – RSL vs. Ventura County Fusion – 8:00 p.m. MT
Fri., Feb. 13 – RSL vs. Shandong Luneng Taishan (China) – 5:00 p.m. MT
Sat., Feb. 14 – RSL vs. UCSB or CSU-SLO – 11:00 a.m. MT
Feb. 15-17: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)
Feb. 18-28: Preseason Trip #2 to Tampa, Fla.
Sat., Feb. 21 – RSL vs. opp. TBD @ Univ. of South Florida – 5:00 p.m. MT
Tues., Feb. 24 – RSL vs. opp. TBD @ Univ. of Tampa – 5:00 p.m. MT
March 1-3: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)
March 4-15: Preseason Trip #3 to Charleston, So. Car. – Carolina Challenge Cup
Sat., March 7 – RSL vs. D.C. United (MLS) – 3:00 p.m. MT
Wed., March 11 – RSL vs. Charleston (USL 1st Div.) – 5:15 p.m. MT
Sat., March 14 – RSL vs. Toronto FC (MLS) – 3:00 p.m. MT
Saturday, March 21: Exhibition contest – Opponent/Site TBD
Saturday, March 28: RSL @ Seattle Sounders FC – 8:30 p.m. MT
Thursday, April 2: MLS First Kick 2009 – RSL vs. Columbus Crew, live on ESPN2
