FC Kansas City 2014 schedule is no picnic

The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) announced their 2014 regular season schedule last week. The season will open April 12^th and run through mid-August. All eight other teams in the league will visit Kansas City at least once.

When asked if anything stood out for him, FC Kansas City Head Coach Vlatko Andonovski responded quickly, "April 26^th to May 25^th, a stretch of nine games."

It will indeed be a tough stretch for FC Kansas City. Starting on April 26^th in Portland, the Blues will play weekend, midweek games for nine straight matches. To add to that load, the Blues will travel from Portland to KC to Houston to Western NY to KC to Seattle to KC (for the only back to back games in one city in that string) and from KC to Boston.

"We are going to have twenty quality players on the roster and it will be an opportunity for players to get minutes," Andonovski added.

Another quirk  in the schedule is from August 13^thto the 17^th. The Blues will have finished playing by then and will have to watch as the rest of the league catches up. Four teams will have two matches in that span. If the Blues are on the bubble it could be a nervous time for the organization.

Not a quirk but a missed opportunity. Both the NWSL and MLS seem to have missed the boat and not scheduled Cascadia swings for teams. Kansas City fans would love to go watch their teams play, a midweek and weekend match against the combination of Portland and Seattle (throw in Vancouver for MLS) and it makes for a great trip and a chance to build fan culture in both leagues.

The NWSL was pretty good about not pitting FC Kansas City head-to-head against Sporting KC.  They play the same day five times but never at home at the same time.

FC Kansas City vs Sporting KC games

4/19 FC Kansas City play away at 5:30, they play home at 7:30

4/26 FC Kansas City at Portland 9p, SKC away 6:30

5/14 FC Kansas City at Seattle 9p, SKC home 7:30

5/18 FC Kansas City home 5p, SKC away at 2p

7/6 FC Kansas City away 5p, SKC home at 2p

Some games to note:

April 12 - the home opener versus Sky Blue will be FC Kansas City's first match in their new stadium

May 18 - a chance to see the Houston Dash for the first time and renew KC's rivalry with an orange Houston soccer team

June 28^th - a rematch with the NWSL Champion Thorns that knocked the Blues out of the playoffs

Season Tickets

With FC Kansas City moving to the new stadium on the UMKC campus this season, there was some concern that there would to be enough seats. The potential scarcity seems to have worked. A source close to the team revealed that he is expecting the season ticket base to almost double for 2014. With only a few more days left on their discounted ticket sales they are already well on their way.

2014 FC KANSAS CITY SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES CT)                            
Date                  Time             Opponent                                                 Location
March 18         6:00pm        University of Missouri (Exhibition)     Columbia, MO
March 22         7:00pm        Chicago Red Stars (Exhibition)         St. Louis Soccer Park
March 29         1:00pm        University of Kansas (Exhibition)      Lawrence, KS
April 5              TBD              Oklahoma State Univ. (Exhibition)    TBD

April 12            7:00pm        SKY BLUE FC                                       KANSAS CITY, MO
April 19            5:30pm        Washington Spirit                                Boyds, MD
April 26            9:00pm        Portland Thorns FC                             Portland, OR
April 30            7:00pm        CHICAGO RED STARS                       KANSAS CITY, MO
May 3               7:00pm        Houston Dash                                       Houston, TX
May 7               6:00pm        Western New York Flash                     Rochester, NY
May 11             5:00pm        WASHINGTON SPIRIT                         KANSAS CITY, MO
May 14             9:00pm        Seattle Reign FC                                   Seattle, WA
May 18             4:00pm        HOUSTON DASH                                  KANSAS CITY, MO
May 21             7:00pm        SEATTLE REIGN FC                             KANSAS CITY, MO
May 25             6:00pm        Boston Breakers                                    Boston, MA
June 4             7:00pm        WESTERN NEW YORK FLASH           KANSAS CITY, MO
June 7             7:00pm        BOSTON BREAKERS                            KANSAS CITY, MO
June 14           8:00pm        Houston Dash                                        Houston, TX
June 21           7:00pm        CHICAGO RED STARS                         KANSAS CITY, MO
June 28           7:00pm        PORTLAND THORNS FC                     KANSAS CITY, MO
July 6               5:00pm        Sky Blue FC                                             Piscataway, NJ
July 13             4:00pm        Portland Thorns FC                               Portland, OR
July 18             6:30pm        Western New York Flash                      Rochester, NY
July 27             5:00pm        SKY BLUE FC                                         KANSAS CITY, MO
July 30             6:00pm        Washington Spirit                                  Boyds, MD
August 2          7:00pm       SEATTLE REIGN FC                              KANSAS CITY, MO
August 6          7:00pm       BOSTON BREAKERS                            KANSAS CITY, MO
August 9          7:00pm       Chicago Red Stars                                 Lisle, IL