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!
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
- @ Portland
- vs LA Galaxy
- @ Nashville
- vs Sporting Kansas City
- @ Colorado
- vs 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 FS1
- vs DC United on FS1
- @ Inter Miami on ESPN
- vs 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 Matches
- April – 5 Matches
- May – 6 Matches
- June – 4 Matches
- July – 5 Matches
- August – 5 Matches
- September 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!
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 |
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