Breaking Down the Orlando City Schedule
The schedule for the 2019 Orlando City Season presented by Orlando Health has been announced and now it is time to dive into the nitty gritty of the 34 game haul.
National Television Schedule
Orlando City will currently have a total of seven games on national broadcast in 2019. UniMás will air the season opener against New York City FC on March 2nd and will broadcast an additional match later in the season. Fox and ESPN will broadcast the remaining five national television matches.
No Three-Game Series
2019 will provide a minor change to the usual schedule format. The schedule will remain at 34 matches, but with the addition of FC Cincinnati to the league, teams will no longer have two three-game series (usually with rivals). City will play all Eastern Conference sides twice (home and away) and Western Conference teams once.
Light June
June will be an unusually light month for the Lions. The team won’t play a match between June 1st and June 26th for the Gold Cup break.
Philadelphia Home and Away
One odd detail about City’s 2019 schedule happens in early July. Orlando and Philadelphia will play each other twice in a four-day stretch. The Lions will host the Union first on July 3rd and three days later, Philadelphia will host the second leg on Saturday, July 6th.
Late Summer Grind
The months of July and August are City’s busiest stretch of the season with six games in each month. There will be two midweek matches in July and one in August.
Season Ending Earlier Than Usual
The season will be ending a couple of weeks earlier this year to allow for the new MLS Cup Playoff format. City’s regular-season finale will be held at home on October 6th against Chicago.
Dates to Note
The first date of significance is Orlando’s home opener versus New York City FC at 2:30 p.m. on March 2nd. City will host MLS new guys FC Cincinnati on May 19th at Orlando City Stadium. The Lions will then make their first visit to Cincy on September 29th.
