With the full 2020 Major League Soccer schedule released on Thursday, Chicago Fire FC heads into the new year with a clear view of what lies ahead when they kick off their first season back at Soldier Field in March.
- See Also | Six Can't-Miss Matches at Soldier Field
As we look forward to opening day in Seattle on March 1, here are some key numbers and takeaways surrounding the Fire's 2020 calendar:
34
First things first, the Fire’s 2020 regular season calendar is made up of 34 matches: 17 played at home and 17 played on the road.
24
The Fire will play each of their Eastern Conference counterparts twice -- once at home and once on the road -- for a total of 24 matches, with 10 matches against Western Conference opponents rounding out the 2020 schedule.
0
A product of the league’s on-going expansion, the 2020 schedule will be the first in which MLS clubs will not play every other team in the league at least once in the regular season. For the Fire, that means zero matches against a select three Western Conference teams. As revealed on Thursday, those teams are Real Salt Lake (whom the Fire have met every season since 2005), the Houston Dynamo (met every season since 2006), and 2020 expansion side Nashville SC.
5
Of the Western Conference opponents the Fire will play in 2020, five of those will be held at Soldier Field. Each of LAFC (Sat., April 25), the Portland Timbers (Wed., May 28), the San Jose Earthquakes (Wed., Aug. 5), the LA Galaxy (Sun., Aug. 9), and Sporting Kansas City (Sat. Sept. 5) will visit Chicago for the first time since 2018.
10
Of the Fire’s 34 regular season games, 10 will be broadcast live to a national audience in 2020. Univision will broadcast four Fire games, UniMás and ESPN will each air two matches, and ABC and FS1 will each broadcast one game in 2020. Six of the Fire’s 10 nationally televised games will take place at Soldier Field.
23
The Fire will play on Saturday 23 times, which makes up the majority of their regular season matchday schedule. Here’s how the calendar breaks down, based on days of the week:
- Saturday: 23 total matches, 11 at home.
- Sunday: Seven total matches, three at home.
- Wednesday: Four total matches, three at home.
3
The Fire’s 2020 calendar features three significant road trips dotting the schedule. The Fire’s first major road trip opens their 2020 campaign, with three-straight matches away from home against the Seattle Sounders (Sun., March 1), New England Revolution (Sat., March 7), and Orlando City SC (Sat., March 14). In June, they’ll visit Columbus Crew SC (Sat., June 13), Toronto FC (Wed., June 17), and Inter Miami CF (Sat., June 20) over the course of a week. Then, in August, the Fire go coast-to-coast with trips to the New York Red Bulls (Sat., Aug. 15), Minnesota United (Sat., Aug 22.) and the Vancouver Whitecaps (Sat., Aug. 29).
7
From June 27 to Aug. 9, the Fire will enjoy a stretch in which they’ll play seven of nine regular season matches at home. They’ll host four-straight at Soldier Field against Orlando City SC (Sat., June 27), NYCFC (Sun., July 5), the Philadelphia Union (Wed., July 8), and D.C. United (Sat., July 11). They’ll then visit the Colorado Rapids (Sat., July 18) and FC Cincinnati (Sat. July 25), before getting back to Soldier Field for an August stretch against Toronto FC (Sat., Aug. 1), the San Jose Earthquakes (Wed., Aug. 5), and the LA Galaxy (Sun., Aug. 9).
6
The busiest months on the Fire’s regular season calendar are May and August, when the Fire will play six matches over the course of each month.
In addition, coming out of the home-heavy schedule in July and August mentioned above, the Fire will close their regular season campaign with six of their final eight matches on the road.
