Fire Reveal 2012 MLS Schedule

CHICAGO, IL (Jan. 5, 2012) – The Chicago Fire Soccer Club, in conjunction with Major League Soccer and its national television partners, unveiled the 2012 regular season schedule Thursday. The Fire are slated to appear in a total of 13 nationally televised broadcasts throughout its 15th season of MLS play. The Fire kick off the 2012 MLS campaign with a visit to the expansion Montreal Impact in the club’s first home match Saturday, March 17 at Olympic Stadium (2:00 PM CT). The Fire’s full schedule can be seen at Chicago-Fire.com/schedule.  

Download 2012 Full Season Schedule (PDF). Download 2012 Home Season Schedule (PDF).
The Fire host Opening Day at Toyota Park against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, March 24 at 7:30 PM CT. Chicago Fire Season Tickets are available by calling 1-888-MLS-FIRE (657-3473), via Ticketmaster or by heading to the club’s official website at Chicago-Fire.com.
Branching across multiple programming platforms, the Fire will appear on national broadcast partners NBC (one game), NBC Sports Network (five games), ESPN (one game), ESPN Deportes (one game) and Galavision (five games) throughout the season. The club will release their 2012 regional television schedule at a later date.
With the league’s expansion to 19 clubs in 2012, the Fire will once again take part in the 10-team Eastern Conference, playing an unbalanced 34-match schedule. The breakdown of opponents is as follows:
·          The Men in Red will play a total of 25 matches against other Eastern Conference clubs and a total of nine matches against Western Conference clubs.
·          The Fire will face seven Eastern Conference opponents a total of three times, hosting the Columbus Crew, Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union twice each at Toyota Park. The team will in turn visit the New England Revolution, New York Red Bulls, Sporting Kansas City and Toronto FC twice each during 2012.
·          The Fire will take on Eastern Conference foes D.C. United and the Montreal Impact twice each (home and away).

• The Fire will face each Western Conference opponent one time over the course of the campaign, hosting FC Dallas, LA Galaxy, Real Salt Lake, Seattle Sounders FC and Vancouver Whitecaps at Toyota Park and going on the road against Chivas USA, Colorado Rapids, Portland Timbers and San Jose Earthquakes. The order will be reversed for the 2013 season.   

Other Schedule Highlights:

• The team will play its first game on NBC when they visit the New York Red Bulls Saturday, Oct. 6 at 2:30 PM CT. The team will play an additional five matches on the newly-formed NBC Sports Network: Saturday, April 21 at Toronto FC (2:30 PM CT), Sunday, June 17 vs. New York (4:00 PM CT), Friday, June 29 (7:00 PM CT) and Sept. 28 (7:30 PM CT) at Sporting Kansas City and Saturday, Oct. 27 vs. D.C. United (6:30 PM CT).

• Along with opening the 2012 home campaign against Philadelphia, the club will also commemorate its founding and mark the 141st anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire, when they host the Peter Nowak-led Union in a 15th Anniversary Match at Toyota Park on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 PM CT.

• The Fire will host Seattle Sounders FC at Toyota Park Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 PM CT in a rematch of the 2011 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final. The Emerald City club took the Dewar Trophy with a 2-0 victory over the Fire in the 2011 Final held October 4 at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field.

• Frank Klopas’ side will welcome the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy to Toyota Park, Sunday, July 8 at 2:00 PM CT on ESPN.

• Breaking down the 34-game schedule by day of the week: the Fire have 19 Saturday match days, 10 at Toyota Park and nine on the road. Six Sunday afternoon/evening fixtures, four at home and two away. Three nationally televised Friday night battles, the aforementioned visits to Sporting Kansas City (both on NBC Sports Network) and a May 4 clash at Chivas USA (ESPN Deportes). The Men in Red will play six midweek matches, three away and three in the Windy City, including a clash with Brimstone Cup rivals FC Dallas, Wednesday, May 23 at 7:30 PM CT. 

• Long-time Eastern Conference rivals Red Bull New York will visit Toyota Park on Sunday, June 17 at 4:00 PM CT (NBC Sports Network). Led by designated players Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez the New York side witnessed 21,868 Fire faithful, the largest crowd in TOYOTA PARK history, when the two clubs clashed Aug. 8 of 2010.

• Along with taking part in Montreal’s first-ever MLS home match on March 17, the Fire will host the Impact for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 7:00 PM CT.

• The Men in Red will complete inter-conference play when they visit the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, July 28 at Buck Shaw Stadium (9:30 PM CT). The team will face only Eastern Conference opponents in their final 12 matches of the campaign.