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MLS Real Salt Lake

Real Salt Lake Unveils 2008 Schedule

February 7, 2008 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Real Salt Lake News Release


SALT LAKE CITY (Thursday, February 7, 2008) - Real Salt Lake and Major League Soccer today unveiled the fourth-year team's regular-season slate, with the Saturday, March 29 Opening Day marking the 2008 Rice-Eccles Stadium debut. Kicking off at 4:00 p.m. MT, RSL hosts Mexican superstar Cuauhtémoc Blanco and the 2007 Eastern Conference Finalist Chicago Fire. The team's "Carnival Real" festivities in the Olympic Cauldron Park of Rice-Eccles Stadium return once again in 2008, opening 2 hours prior to kickoff on Opening Day and 60 minutes prior to kickoff for most other RSL games.

Real Salt Lake's 2008 slate is highlighted by the much-anticipated return of international soccer and pop-culture icon David Beckham on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 p.m., revisiting Utah for the first time since the 2-0 Real Madrid victory over RSL in August, 2006, this time in a Los Angeles Galaxy uniform with teammate Landon Donovan.

For the fourth consecutive season, RSL will offer post-event fireworks as a continuation of the team's Independence Day and Pioneer Day traditions, welcoming two-time defending MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo to the Wasatch Front on Thursday, July 3 in a nationally-televised ESPN2 game and hosting a Pioneer Day spectacular on Thursday, July 24. Both holiday events kick off at 8:00 p.m. MT, allowing for fireworks displays to blast off during the requisite darkness.

In 2008, RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis' new-look team plays 5 of its first 10 league matches at home, with an additional Utah date of Wednesday, April 30 added to host the squad's Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup qualifier against the expansion San Jose Earthquakes at 7:00 p.m. The winner of that contest travels to Columbus on a date to be determined for the right to play Chicago and be one of eight MLS teams that enter the 2008 edition of the longest-running Cup competition in the United States, and one of the oldest in the world.

Real Salt Lake Royal Club Members (all season seat holders) have all international games, the holiday events and the Open Cup Qualifier included in their 2008 package. All Royal Club members also enjoy the exclusive opportunity from now through Monday, Feb. 18 to purchase additional individual game tickets to ANY of the team's 15 regular season games, including Opening Day on March 29 and the David Beckham / Los Angeles Galaxy contest on May 3 BEFORE they go on sale to the general public. Royal Club members also can purchase in advance tickets for the three October home games for RSL, to be played in either Rice-Eccles Stadium or the team's new facility in Sandy, pending finalization of the construction process.

Saturday nights represent game night for the 2008 Real Salt Lake campaign, with 26 of 32 known game dates - including 11 of 16 at home - occurring on Saturdays. RSL has four (4) Thursday night events (including the two July holidays - Independence Day, July 3, and Pioneer Day, July 24), as well as one each on a Monday and a Wednesday. Should Royal Club Members be unable to attend any RSL events, they are once again offered four exchange dates, in order to fully utilize their 2008 season ticket package. Those dates are:

- Saturday, May 10 vs. FC Dallas

- Wednesday, June 18 vs. San Jose

- Saturday, July 12 vs. Columbus Crew

- Saturday, September 20 vs. Chivas USA

Real Salt Lake faces Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids three times in 2008: Thursday, May 15 on ESPN2 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado; Friday, August 29 at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake; and the season finale for both teams, which could have playoff implications, on Saturday, October 25 in Denver suburb Commerce City. Real Salt Lake captured its first-ever Rocky Mountain Cup with a 1-0 victory on the final day of the 2007 season, when FW Robbie Findley's dramatic 87th-minute blast found the back of the net.

The Rapids are one of four Western Conference teams that RSL will face three (3) times in 2008, joining expansion brethren CD Chivas USA, FC Dallas and the San Jose Earthquakes. The 14-team MLS playing a 30-game regular season for the second consecutive year dictates that RSL will face the remaining nine opponents twice each, once at home and once away.

RSL will be featured on national television nine times during its fourth campaign, as the 2008 MLS season features the most comprehensive national television slate in League history, with a total of 113 live matches, and all 210 games in the 14-team League airing either nationally or regionally. For the second time in League history, every regular season game will be televised, either through national or regional broadcasts. Real Salt Lake's regional broadcast schedule is currently being finalized and will be unveiled in the near future. The entire MLS schedule, including individual team schedules, is available at www.MLSnet.com.

The linchpin of this year's national television schedule is "MLS Primetime Thursdays" on ESPN2, consisting of 31 live broadcasts, including three MLS Cup Playoff matches and the 2008 Sierra Mist MLS All-Star Game on July 24 at BMO Field in Toronto. All MLS Primetime Thursday games on ESPN2 are offered in high definition, and will also be broadcast live on ESPN Deportes and ESPN360.com. RSL is featured on ESPN2 three times: Thursday, May 15 at Colorado in the first of three "Rocky Mountain Cup" tilts against the rival Rapids; on Thursday, July 3 at home vs. Houston in an Independence Day spectacular; and on Thursday, October 9 at home vs. New York Red Bulls.

Real Salt Lake is featured on two of Fox Soccer Channel's 32 regular-season games, each one in a three-hour programming window entitled "MLS Saturday on FSC" and both originating from Salt Lake, as RSL hosts the expansion San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, May 31 at 7:00 p.m. at Rice-Eccles Stadium. FSC also emanates live from Utah on FC Dallas on Saturday, October 18. Fox Soccer Channel's on-site coverage will again include MLS's only 30-minute pre-game show and 30-minute post-game show; all Fox Soccer Channel MLS games will also air in Spanish in two-hour programming windows on sister network Fox Sports en Español, the largest Spanish-language all-sports network in the U.S. MLS action returns to the Univision family of networks in 2008 with 24 Sunday broadcasts on TeleFutura and sister signal Galavisión during the regular season. RSL does not appear on either Univision network in 2008.

HDNet, the first all-high definition national television network, features RSL four times during its sixth season of MLS coverage in HD, airing 29 regular season games in high-definition, 28 of them on Saturday nights. RSL game dates on Mark Cuban's high-definition channel include April 5 at Chivas USA; at home on July 12 vs. Columbus; September 27 at San Jose; and the season finale on October 25 at Colorado.

RSL returns in 2008 with the competitive core assembled late last season, including 2007 team MVP Nick Rimando, a trio of Argentines (DF Matias Mantilla, MF Javier Morales, FW Fabian Espindola), U.S. Olympic hopefuls Robbie Findley, Chris Seitz and Nate Sturgis, U.S. National Team pool MF Kyle Beckerman, midseason acquisitions Chris Wingert and Yura Movsisyan, and RSL veterans Carey Talley and Andy Williams. Among the new faces for 2008 are DF Ian Joy, the American-born, European-based player from Germany's FC St. Pauli, and DF Tony Beltran, the U.S. U-20 defender out of UCLA and team's first-round pick in the 2008 SuperDraft.

2008 REAL SALT LAKE PRESEASON ITINERARY

Jan. 30-Feb. 9: Preseason Trip #1 to Oxnard/Ventura, CA

- Friday, Feb. 8 vs. Ventura County Fusion at Buena H.S. in Ventura, CA; 8:30 p.m. MT

- Saturday, Feb. 9: Scrimmage v. Opponent TBA

Feb. 10-13: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)

Feb. 14-23: Preseason Trip #2 to Sunrise/Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

- Friday, Feb. 15: Scrimmage (closed door) v. Colorado Rapids

- Dates / sites / opponents for 2-3 additional scrimmages TBD

Feb. 24-28: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)

Feb. 29-March 12: Preseason Trip #3 to Rosario, Argentina

- Dates/times of 3 exhibitions TBD

March 14 - 28: Training in Utah (sites/times TBD)

March 22: Exhibition contest vs. MLS opponent / Site TBA

March 24: "Real Week" Kickoff Exhibition vs. Lobos PFC at Skyline H.S.; 7:00 p.m. MT

March 29: MLS First Kick 2008 - RSL v. Chicago Fire at Rice-Eccles Stadium - 4:00 p.m. MT

Real Salt Lake's complete 2008 MLS schedule, with selected exhibition dates, follows:

REAL SALT LAKE 2008 SCHEDULE

Day Date Matchup Time (MT) TV Note:

SAT. MARCH 29 CHICAGO FIRE 4:00 2008 Home Opener vs. Blanco And Co.

Sat. April 5 @ Chivas USA 8:30 HDNet RSL begins road slate against Eskandarian & Harris

SAT. APRIL 12 D.C. UNITED 7:00 Emilio, Fred, Gallardo Invade Rice-Eccles

Sat. April 19 @ Toronto FC 1:30 RSL travels north to open TFC's schedule at BMO Field

Sat. April 26 @ D.C. United 5:30 Lone visit to RFK Stadium in 2008

WED. APRIL 30 LHUSOC - vs. SAN JOSE 7:00 U.S. Open Cup Play-In Game; Winner Plays @ CLB

SAT. MAY 3 LOS ANGELES GALAXY 7:00 Beckham, Donovan, Klein & Ruiz Visit Rice-Eccles

SAT. MAY 10 FC DALLAS 7:00 Club America legend Duilio Davino leads new-look "Hoops"

Thu. May 15 @ Colorado Rapids 7:30 ESPN2 Rocky Mountain Cup rivalry continues for 4th season

Sat. May 24 @ FC Dallas 6:30 RSL looks for first-ever win in Texas

SAT. MAY 31 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 7:00 Fox Soccer First look at renewed Earthquakes squad

SAT. JUNE 7 KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 7:00 FW Yura Movsisyan gets first chance at former side

Sat. June 14 @ Chivas USA 8:30 '05 Expansion brethren meet again at The HDC

WED. JUNE 18 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES 7:00 'Quakes rumble back to SLC for second visit in a month

SAT. JUNE 21 NE REVOLUTION 7:30 Twellman leads East champs into Rice-Eccles

Sun. June 29 @ Kansas City Wizards 6:00 First trip to KC's temp home of CommunityAmerica Ballpark

THU. JULY 3 HOUSTON DYNAMO 8:00 ESPN2 Back-to-back champs add to fireworks on July 4th weekend

SAT. JULY 12 COLUMBUS CREW 7:00 HDNet Argentine legend Schelotto makes first SLC visit with Crew

Sat. July 19 @ Chicago Fire 6:30 RSL looks to bounce Blanco in Bridgeview

THU. JULY 24 PIONEER DAY EVENT TBD RSL/Rice-Eccles fireworks tradition continues

MON. JULY 28 TORONTO FC 7:00 Revenge in order after Canadians won last summer in SLC

Sat. Aug. 2 Open Date

Sat. Aug. 9 Open Date

Sat. Aug. 16 @ Houston Dynamo 6:30 Raucous Robertson Stadium awaits RSL on trip to Houston

Sat. Aug. 23 @ Columbus Crew 5:30 Visit to first U.S. soccer-specific stadium on tap in C-Bus

FRI. AUG. 29 COLORADO RAPIDS 7:00 Only Rocky Mountain Cup date in SLC in 2008

Sat. Sept. 6 @ Los Angeles Galaxy 8:30 RSL makes last SoCal trip of '08 to face Beckham's bunch

Sat. Sept. 13 @ New York Red Bulls 5:30 First meeting of '08 against Red Bulls waits until September

SAT. SEPT. 20 CHIVAS USA 7:00 Only Utah visit of season for Chivas USA

Sat. Sept. 27 @ San Jose Earthquakes 8:00 HDNet RSL makes trek to Buck Shaw Stadium to take on 'Quakes

Sat. Oct. 4 @ New England Revolution 5:30 RSL heads east for annual trip to Foxboro

THU. OCT. 9 NEW YORK RED BULLS 8:00 ESPN2 Utah fans showcased nationally during playoff run

SAT. OCT. 18 FC DALLAS 7:00 Fox Soccer Pivotal Western Conference contest ends RSL's home slate

Sat. Oct. 25 @ Colorado Rapids 7:30 HDNet Front Range season finale second year running

(Home games in BOLD CAPS; road games in italics; all times p.m./MT;

schedule subject to change; please visit www.RealSaltLake.com for latest news and info)

*exclusive to National TV Partner

2008 MLS CUP PLAYOFF SCHEDULE:

Thu-Sun, Oct. 30-Nov. 2 - MLS Cup Playoffs - Conference Semifinals, Leg 1

Thu-Sun, Nov. 6-9 - MLS Cup Playoffs - Conference Semifinals, Leg 2

Thu-Sun, Nov. 13-16 - MLS Cup Playoffs - Conference Finals

Sun, Nov. 23 - MLS Cup 2008 @ Home Depot Center, Carson, CA (ABC, 1:30 MT)

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