I figure that we will eventually need a thread to discuss the 2012 schedule so I created this. And so I could put my proposed home schedule somewhere that was easier to find. Newtex's proposed home schedule for 2012 with 17 home league games. This schedule avoids the Astro's home games completely as well as putting in gaps for the World Cup qualifiers. NOW with potential CCL dates! I've marked out all 8 likely dates but we would only have home games for 1, 3 or 4 of those. Also, those games could be on the Tuesday or Thursday before and after the Wednesday's that I've arbitrarily designated. 1. Saturday, May 12 2. Saturday, May 26 3. Wednesday, May 30 June 8-12: CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers 4. Saturday, June 16 5. Thursday, June 21 6. Saturday, June 30 7. Wednesday, July 4 8. Saturday, July 14 9. Wednesday, July 18 10. Sunday, July 22 Wednesday, July 25: CCL Preliminary Leg #1 Wednesday, August 1: CCL Preliminary Leg #2 11. Saturday, August 4 Wednesday, August 15: CCL Group Stage #1 Wednesday, August 22: CCL Group Stage #2 12. Saturday, August 25 Wednesday, August 29: CCL Group Stage #3 13. Wednesday, September 5 Sept 7-11: CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers TSU #1 Saturday, September 8 Wednesday, September 19: CCL Group Stage #4 Wednesday, September 26: CCL Group Stage #5 TSU #2 Saturday, September 29 14. Sunday, September 30 Wednesday, October 3: CCL Group Stage #6 15. Saturday, October 6 16. Wednesday, October 10 Oct 12-16: CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers TSU #3 Saturday, October 13 17. Saturday, October 20 TSU #4 Saturday, October 27 TSU #5 Saturday, November 3 TSU #6 Saturday, November 17 It's just an educated guess. We'll see how close it comes.
It's official. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/10/garber-insists-2012-season-will-have-unbalanced-schedule It was also announced in the speech that the schedule will be out in December or early January. I would hope that we'll hear about the format in terms of how the schedule will work before that. Also, but not "official" yet:
Looks like a pretty good effort. I'm glad to hear that we're going to an unbalanced schedule. Garber mentioned that Vancouver traveled over 60,000 miles in 2011. According to the piece on the official site, even the clubs that traveled the least still traveled about 30,000 miles. Most clubs in Europe aren't anywhere near that sort of travel burden.
Just bringing together some thing about the schedule next year that we already know. Pre-season: http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2011/11/dynamo-compete-2012-disney-pro-soccer-classic This tournament stars on February 24 and ends March 3, 2012. Regular Season: The MLS schedule in 2012 will again be 34 games so we will not be playing every team twice. It does appear that we'll remain in the Eastern Conference. This means only one game against FCD. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/20/mls-reveals-2012-conference-based-schedule-format MLS Playoffs: 10 teams will again make the playoffs but there will no longer be wild-cards. The top 5 from each conference will make the playoffs. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/20/big-changes-mls-cup-playoffs-format-2012 CONCACAF Champions League: The Dynamo will be in the Preliminary Round of the 2012-2013 CCL. That means we play a home-and-away series against another Preliminary Round qualifier. The winner of that series will be drawn into the Group Stage. The Preliminary Round is typically the last week of July and the first week of August. That would mean somewhere around July 25 and August 1. If we advance, the Group Stage would likely begin around August 22. These dates may get changed for 2012 because of the Olympics running July 26-August 11. Stay tuned. The Draw for the 2011-2012 tournament took place last year in May. U.S. Open Cup: There is a report that there may be a new format for the 2012 tournament. http://thecup.us/source-2012-us-open-cup-format-proposal-calls-for-64-teams-including-all-16-us-based-mls-clubs/ The article also says the tournament would now start in mid-May and be done by August to avoid the CCL.
Just to clarify, if the MLS article is correct and Houston stays in the East our MLS regular season schedule could look something like this: Against the East Toronto FC: 2 games Montreal Impact: 2 games Chicago Fire: 3 games Columbus Crew: 3 games DC United: 3 games KC Wizards: 3 games NY Red Bulls: 3 games NE Revolution: 3 games Philadelphia Union: 3 games Against the West Chivas USA: 1 game Colorado Rapids: 1 game FC Dallas: 1 game LA Galaxy: 1 game Portland Timbers: 1 game Real Salt Lake: 1 game Seattle Sounders: 1 game San Jose Earthquakes: 1 game Vancouver Whitecaps: 1 game
Actually, if we only get to play Dallas once this year, I'd prefer it was a game in Dallas scheduled for prior to the Dynamo stadium opening in May. That way it would be like the first home game of the year came early. I don't even mean that in a "LOL Frisco is Robertson North!" kind of way. We always bring a good crowd up to Dallas so it's like a bonus game in a sense. Also, that brings up another point, now that we are out of Robertson, will we still refer to Frisco as Robertson North? I vote Yes for tradition's sake.
I was thinking the same thing yesterday, the game with Dallas should be in Frisco. It's like adding one more home game to our schedule.
I had not thought of that but it would be a great situation. I did read something on the N&A board that there may be an attempt to schedule non-conference games early in the season so this might work out.
Not sure I get the point. We've played up at Robertson North lots of times without the cannon being there.
Could've sworn I read that there will be exceptions based on geography, so we might face Dallas more than once.
I have not seen that anywhere. That would really mess up the system because for that to happen FCD would have to face a Western conference opponent less often (or one Eastern opponent not at all.) This system means that the West has a fairly balanced schedule with all West teams playing exactly the same opponents the same number of times each. The home-and-away balance is not the same for all teams. The East is not so balanced but pretty close.
So are the Dynamo going to open on the road and stay on the road until the new stadium is opened in May? Thats rough. Unless you play Revs and Montreal away at that time.
"In order to be more like the NFL in 2012 and celebrate intra-conference play with focusing on those as more rivalry games we will create a schedule that sees Houston play its biggest rival just once."---MLS HQ Meh, the travel argument is very weak for pro soccer as NOBODY complains about the NBA or NHL and the more air travel those athletes endure. Certainly hockey which is the biggest caveman sport on the planet with what your body has to endure over a 84 game season. So with our 34-36-38 sched, I would tell our players that you could always be working at Pop Copy, earning peanuts in our USL and traveling 18 hours by van in one day to play this sport you love. Also, I was under the impression that by adding just 2, yes 2, more games it is a way to make that much more money for the owners with parking and concessions as well as sponsor packages for sell.
Looks that way, yes. On the flipside, the second half of our season ought to be pretty heavy with home games.
Yep, we are apparently using the modified KC plan. We'll be back home a month earlier than they were this year.
Speaking of Robertson North... does anyone know what happened to the "Robertson North" banner I painted back in 2006? The last I remember was sending it up to frisco with the TA back in maybe 2008 (when I couldn't make the trip) and seeing it on TV. Maybe I'll make a new (bigger) one for next season's trip (assuming we go to frisco).
I have it. Or at least I have a Robertson North banner. It went to Frisco in September but I don't think it got put up.
If you look on keepernotes there's a Rob North banner that's shown for the Frisco game, but I don't know whether that's the one any of yall are referring to.
Love the extra east coast games! I am really looking forward to Montreal. It is a really nice drive from Boston, so hopefully we can get a group up there.
Word is that the season will start in mid-March. Hopefully some games are played at home [at Reliant Stadium] between the start of the season and the official opening day at Dynamo Stadium. I don't want to see the Dynamo on the road before playing at home - seeing what happened to Sporting.