Major League Soccer has released the home openers for all 26 clubs in the 2020 season, with FC Dallas returning to Toyota Stadium on Saturday, February 29.
The Leap Day game will see Dallas welcome the Philadelphia Union for a 7PM kick off. The third-placed side in the Eastern Conference has never won an MLS game in Frisco, although they did advance to the 2014 US Open Cup final after outlasting FCD in a penalty shootout with Blas Perez and Victor Ulloa missing from the spot.
FC Dallas has also announced a promotion to celebrate the 25th season in the team’s existence. Fans wearing an FC Dallas or Dallas Burn jersey will receive a five dollar stadium cash voucher. If you wear a Burn jersey, you will also receive Buzz Carrick’s never ending respect!
This will be the first time that FC Dallas has begun its MLS campaign in the month of February, although the run to the semi-finals of the 2017 Concacaf Champions League did begin on February 24 to mark the team’s earliest competitive game in the calendar year.
The club also participates in another home opener, as they go to NYCFC on March 14 for an 11:30AM game at Yankee Stadium.
As usual, the teams will play 34 games but the increase to 26 teams now means that FC Dallas will not play every team for the first time. They will play all 12 Western Conference foes home and away, and the remaining games will feature ten of the 13 Eastern Conference teams, five home and five away.
Another change in 2020 is the move to paid parking outside of Toyota Stadium. Season Ticket Holders will receive parking passes, but all other fans will pay to use any of the parking lots surrounding Toyota Stadium, Toyota Soccer Center, Frisco Fresh Market, and World Cup Plaza. Prices will be announced before the start of the season along with payment methods.
That is a really quality promotion with the $5 stadium cash offer. I hope they continue to use creative promotions like this to incentivize fan engagement throughout the season. The way those $25 jerseys were flying off the racks at the end of last season, there should be plenty of folks showing up to the opener in their gear.
I hope their advertising goes south of 635