MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact unveiled its 2015 regular season schedule - the fourth in the club’s MLS history. The Impact will play a total of 34 games during the regular season, 17 at home and 17 on the road, with 30 set to be played on Saturdays.
Check out the full schedule here
Season begins on March 7 in Washington
As in the previous two years, the Impact kicks off its season with two games on the road. The bleu-blanc-noir will play its first game against D.C. United, on Saturday, March 7, at RFK Stadium at 3pm. After a week off, the team will then face last season’s MLS Cup finalists in the New England Revolution on Saturday, March 21, at Gillette Stadium.
Home opener in Montreal
The Impact will play its home opener at Olympic Stadium on Saturday, March 28 at 4pm against expansion side Orlando City SC and its Designated player Kaka. All other local games will be played at Stade Saputo. IMFC will again host Orlando on June 20, and then travels to the Citrus Bowl on October 3.
The other MLS expansion club, New York City FC, will host the Impact for the first time in its history on June 13 at Yankee Stadium. Montreal fans can get their first glimpse of NYCFC and striker David Villa on July 4 at Stade Saputo. The Impact will return to the Bronx for a second time on August 1 in order to conclude the three match series.
Conference realignment
With NYCFC and OCSC joining MLS in 2015, the league has been realigned into two 10-team conferences. The expansion cousins will join the Eastern Conference, while the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City have moved to the Western Conference. As a result, six teams will qualify for the playoffs from each conference.
Clubs will play each team in the opposing conference once for five home and five away matches. Each team will play their nine intra-conference opponents a minimum of two times, (one home, one away); with the six remaining matches on the schedule set for additional intra-conference games -- three home and three away versus different opponents.
Other games to watch
The Impact will face Canadian rival, Toronto FC, three times in 2015, on June 24 and August 29 at BMO Field, then on the occasion of the season’s final game on October 25 at Stade Saputo.
Montreal will also host its other Canadian rival, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, at Stade Saputo on June 3. The LA Galaxy, recent MLS Cup champions, along with new Designated Player Steven Gerrard, will host IMFC on September 12 at StubHub Center in California.
IMFC will face the Chicago Fire, former home to Frank Klopas, Dilly Duka, Justin Mapp and Bakary Soumare, on April 18 and September 5 in Montreal, as well as on May 30 in Illinois.
Former Impact head coach Jesse Marsch and his new team, the New York Red Bulls, will host the bleu-blanc-noir on April 4 before he returns to Montreal on August 5.
The Impact will visit the Houston Dynamo with its new vice-president and general manager Matt Jordan on April 11 in Texas.
Note that game times as well as the television broadcasting times, will be announced at a later date.
Before opening day of the 2015 regular season, the Impact will play its Champions League quarterfinal series. The first game of the home and away series will be played on February 24, at 10pm ET (TVA Sports) in Mexico, with the return leg set for March 3 at Olympic Stadium. Tickets to this great event are available via ticketmaster.ca (1-855-790-1245), and at the ticket offices of Stade Saputo and Olympic Stadium.
Tickets for the Champions League home leg at Olympic Stadium are included in all 2015 season ticket packages, available in seven different categories, starting at just $339 at impactmontreal.com or by calling 514-328-3668.
