Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer unveiled the fifth-year team's regular-season slate for the upcoming 2009 campaign on Wednesday, 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 two 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 3 and 10 - the last two resulting in a scheduling quirk that will see RSL have an 18-day break before its final three contests of the campaign.
Real Salt Lake's 2009 schedule is highlighted by the much-anticipated 2009 Major League Soccer All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 29 at 7:30 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 (7:00 p.m.) and hosting a Pioneer Day spectacular against FC Dallas on Friday, July 24 (8:00 p.m.).
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 October 14 and 24 (New York Red Bulls and Colorado Rapids) - RSL hosts back-to-back MLS games at its Rio Tinto Stadium home. While RSL will not enjoy a homestand of longer than two games, neither will it be forced to hit the road more than twice in a row, as the Utah squad will travel for a trio of back-to-back road contests, spread out between late May (May 23 and 30), mid-June (June 13 and 20), and late-September (Sept. 19 and 26).
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 - one more feature than last season - between League broadcast partners ESPN2 and Fox Soccer Channel (and their Spanish-language sister-stations, ESPN Deportes and Fox Sports en Español, respectively) 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. All six national TV match-ups for Real Salt Lake will see the eyes of the soccer world focus in on Rio Tinto Stadium, with the home opener against Columbus marking the fifth consecutive contest at the team's new Sandy home to be beamed to a nationwide audience since its unveiling last October. 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 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 33 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 7:00 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 at 7:00 p.m. 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 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 tickets for 2009 Real Salt Lake contests at Rio Tinto Stadium, including how to secure RSL Season Tickets and discounts for groups of 20 or more, contact the RSL Front Office at 801-727-2701 or visit www.RioTintoStadium.com.
