Sporting KC Unveil 2020 Preseason Plans for Arizona

Update 12/20/19: SKC made their participation in the 2020 Visit Tucson Sun Cup official today.

“The 2020 Visit Tucson Sun Cup will feature a six-team field of Sporting, [Phoenix] Rising FC, Columbus Crew SC, Houston Dynamo, New York Red Bulls and Real Salt Lake. The tournament will run from Feb. 15-22, leading up to Sporting’s MLS regular season opener at Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Feb. 29.”

We are about seven weeks in what is a very long offseason for Sporting Kansas City and we are all hungry for even the smallest nugget of information. Another one of those crumbs fell out during the announcement of the offseason roster moves by Sporting KC.

SKC casually dropped the news that they would spend their entire 2020 preseason in Arizona for the sixth straight season. To quote the team, “the club will train in Scottsdale from Jan. 19 to Feb. 1 and from Feb. 8-22.”

In prior offseasons the first leg of preseason was just training and no games. The second trip usually has a series of games that take place in either Phoenix, Arizona or Tucson, Arizona. Last year most of the games were closed to the public with only a couple claims being opened to ticket sales.

There is no official announcement yet for who Sporting KC will be playing or what other MLS teams will be in attendance. Last year, the lone MLS team played by Sporting were the Houston Dynamo. In past versions of the Desert Diamond Cup Mobile Mini Sun Cup a plethora of MLS teams made the trip to AZ including: New York Red Bulls, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, Colorado Rapids, Real Salt Lake and many others.

One other tiny announcement snuck into the release that Sporting KC would play their season opener on either Saturday, February 29, 2020 (it’s a leap year!) or Sunday, March 1, 2020. This is about a week earlier than in years past but these dates were known due to the opening games for Inter Miami CF and Nashville SC already being announced. No word on who SKC will play or if it’ll be home or away.