5 things that stand out on the 2023 Minnesota United schedule
The Loons will kick off their 2023 campaign on Saturday, Feb. 25 at FC Dallas, the team that knocked them out of the this past season’s playoffs.
Minnesota United will host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, March 11 in their first home game of the season. (*Checks average temps for St. Paul on March 11 to see an average high of 38F and an average low of 23F… brrrrrr*).
Major League Soccer released its 2023 schedule Tuesday and with that come notable games and dates. Let’s take a look at the five things that stand out in the Loons' schedule.
1. Only three linear TV games
The 2023 season kicks off the first year of MLS’ new 10-year global broadcast deal with Apple. Every single MLS game will be on Apple’s Apple TV+ service for a fee with no local blackouts. The only linear TV partner that MLS signed a deal with was FOX Sports, meaning a select number of games will be broadcast on FOX and FS1.
Minnesota was picked for three of those games:
- April 30 against FC Dallas
- Aug. 27 against Seattle Sounds
- Oct. 4 at LAFC
2. Schedule consistency… FINALLY!
Anybody who has followed MLS for any amount of time will have noticed the general lack of schedule consistency. Games would appear on random days and times with little to no rhyme or reason. With the new AppleTV deal comes scheduling consistency, with 32 of the Loons’ 34 games on either Saturday or Wednesday. The two exceptions are two of the linear TV games which will take place on Sunday.
Games will also have consistent kick-off times, meaning 7:30 p.m. start times when the Loons play at home and then 7:30 p.m. in whatever time zone their opponent plays. The lone exceptions, again, are two of the linear TV games which will kick off at 8 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. CT.
3. Leagues Cup break
As 2023 brings in the new broadcast deal it also brings in the new format of the Leagues Cup. A very brief outliner of what the Leagues Cup is: a World Cup-style tournament between MLS and Mexico’s LigaMX with group play before a knockout round.
The first edition of the new version of the League Cup will take place from mid-July through mid-August, meaning MNUFC will not play a league game from July 15 through Aug. 20.
4. Front-loaded schedule
Last season MNUFC played just 14 games from Feb. 26 to May 28 before a three-week break in June. This year they will play 23 of their 34 games before the Leagues Cup, including 11 games in April and May. May will be a particularly tough month with seven games in 28 days from May 6 to June 3.
After the Loons return from the Leagues Cup they’ll have just 11 games in the final two months of regular season play.
5. Tough last three games
The Loons' final three games of the season will be a tough stretch if they haven’t already locked up a playoff spot. They’ll kick off October going to defending champions LAFC for a Wednesday night game. LAFC dropped just eight points at home all season, losing twice and drawing twice. MNUFC lost 2-0 at LAFC early last season.
Three days after visiting Los Angeles they’ll come back home to host LAFC’s cross-town rivals LA Galaxy. The Galaxy finished fourth in the Western Conference last season and are expected to pick up where they left off last season when they lost just once in their final 11 regular season games.
They’ll close the season in just about the toughest location they could have drawn, Sporting KC. Minnesota has yet to win or even draw when visiting Kansas City in the regular season, getting outscored in seven games by a combined 19-2. The one time Minnesota won in Kansas City was a 3-0 Conference Semifinals victory during the 2020 season.
Notable games:
First game of the season - Saturday February 25th @ FC Dallas (7:30pm)
First home game – Saturday, March 11th v New York Red Bulls (7:30pm)
First game against expansion club St. Louis FC – Saturday April 1st @ St. Louis FC (7:30pm)
Defending champs come to town – Saturday, July 15th v LAFC (7:30pm)
Rivals come to town – Saturday, September 16th v Sporting KC (7:30pm)
Final home game of the season – Saturday, October 7th v LA Galaxy (7:30pm)
Regular season finale – Saturday, October 21st @ Sporting KC (TBD)
