Sounders open and close 2016 season at home
Seattle Sounders FC will begin and end its eighth MLS season at home.
The Sounders’ 2016 regular season starts March 6 when Sporting Kansas City visits CenturyLink Field and ends Oct. 23 with a visit from Real Salt Lake.
In all, the Sounders and the other 19 MLS teams will play 34 regular-season games, same as last season.
Seattle will begin Cascadia Cup play March 19, when the Vancouver Whitecaps make the first of two trips to Seattle. The Sounders will travel twice to defending MLS Cup champion Portland, on July 17 and Aug. 28. The Timbers will make their lone trip to Seattle on Aug. 21.
New York City FC will make its first visit to Seattle on June 25, and the Sounders will travel to Orlando City for the first time on Aug. 7.
Fourteen Sounders games will be shown on national television: seven on ESPN, six on Fox Sports 1 and one on Fox. Regional broadcast details are yet to be announced.
All of Major League Soccer’s 340 regular-season games will be broadcast internationally.
The Sounders will report to training camp Jan. 22 at Starfire Sports. In late February they will begin their quarterfinal CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal series against Club America of Mexico.
ADDED TIME
Sounders midfielder Gonzalo Pineda, 33, announced that he is ending his playing career after 13 professional seasons. Pineda spent two of those seasons — 2014 and 2015 — in Seattle, appearing in 56 regular-season games while recording four goals and nine assists. Sounders FC last month declined its option on Pineda’s contact. … The Sounders announced the signing of midfielder Jordan Schweitzer as a homegrown player. Schweitzer, 21, attended Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, Sounders FC Academy and the University of Denver. “He is a central midfielder who understands the importance to the team effort through his distribution, positional play and passing,” coach Sigi Schmid said in a club news release.
Don Ruiz: 253-597-8808, @donruiztnt
2016 Seattle Sounders MLS schedule
March 6 Sporting Kansas City
March 12 at Real Salt Lake
March 19 Vancouver
April 2 Montreal
April 10 at Houston
April 16 Philadelphia
April 23 at Colorado
April 30 Columbus
May 7 San Jose
May 14 at FC Dallas
May 21 Colorado
May 28 at New England
June 1 at DC United
June 19 at New York Red Bulls
June 25 New York City FC
July 2 at Toronto
July 9 Los Angeles Galaxy
July 13 FC Dallas
July 17 at Portland
July 24 at Sporting Kansas City
July 31 Los Angeles Galaxy
Aug. 7 at Orlando City
Aug. 14 Real Salt Lake
Aug. 21 Portland
Aug. 24 at Houston
Aug. 28 at Portland
Sept.10 at San Jose
Sept. 17 Vancouver
Sept. 25 at Los Angeles Galaxy
Sept. 28 Chicago
Oct. 2 at Vancouver
Oct. 12 Houston
Oct. 16 at FC Dallas
Oct. 23 Real Salt Lake
This story was originally published January 7, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Sounders open and close 2016 season at home."