Sporting Kansas City will have three additional home matches on national television at state-of-the-art Sporting Park in 2011, as Major League Soccer announced on Friday a one-year extension to their national broadcast rights agreement with FOX Soccer. As part of the announcement, two Sporting Kansas City home matches move one night earlier than originally scheduled and will air on Fox Soccer Channel on Friday nights.
Sporting’s home match against the San Jose Earthquakes will now be played on Friday, June 17th at 7:30 p.m. CT, as the first of three FSC broadcasts from Kansas City’s brand new home ground. The second schedule change affects Sporting’s home match versus the Philadelphia Union, which is now scheduled for Friday, September 23rd at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Both of these matches will air exclusively on Fox Soccer Channel, the premier soccer-only channel in North America, as two of the network’s 14 MLS matches on Friday nights in 2011. Kansas City will also feature on Fox Soccer Channel on Saturday, August 13th when Sporting hosts the Los Angeles Galaxy at 7:30 p.m. CT.
Aside from the three FOX Soccer broadcasts and Sporting’s home opener on June 9th against the Chicago Fire, to air on ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com, all other Sporting Kansas City home and away MLS matches will be telecast live locally in high definition on KSMO-TV. One or more games on KSMO-TV will also be simulcast on KCTV-5.
With Friday’s announcement, 11 Sporting Kansas City regular season matches will be broadcast nationally in the United States or Canada in 2011. Nine of the 11 matches scheduled for national exposure will be played at Sporting Park, currently under construction in Kansas City, Kansas. The $180 million plus venue will seat 18,467 soccer supporters and features an iconic canopy roof that covers every seating section.
FOX Soccer has been a national broadcast partner of MLS since 2003 and will broadcast up to 31 regular season games in 2011, plus three exclusive MLS Cup Playoff matches. All telecasts will be broadcast in high definition.
