SKC Home Opener on Saturday at Sporting Park
MLS Sporting Kansas City

SKC Home Opener on Saturday at Sporting Park

Published on February 27, 2026 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Sporting Kansas City News Release


Sporting Kansas City will host the Columbus Crew at 7:30 p.m. CT on Saturday at Sporting Park in the team's highly anticipated home opener with special festivities including a t-shirt giveaway for the first 10,000 fans inside the gates.

Tickets for Saturday's showdown are available on SeatGeek and SKCvCLB is included in the Blue Hell Pack along with SKCvSTL on Aug. 19 and SKCvLAFC on Sept. 12. College students can also take advantage of the Sporting U Pass to secure $15 Supporters' Stand tickets all season long.

Sporting Kansas City will debut the team's new 18th & Vine Kit on Saturday and fans in attendance will receive free jersey customization with the purchase of the kit at Sporting Style retail stores. Fans can also purchase items from the club's 2026 collection at SportingStyle.com for gameday pickup at Sporting Park on Saturday.

Sporting Kansas City and the Columbus Crew are each looking to bounce back after opening the MLS campaign with losses on the West Coast a week ago. Sporting fell 3-0 at San Jose as six players made their team debuts and the average age of the starting lineup was the team's youngest for an MLS match in club history.

At age 17, Ian James -- who was named to Top Drawer Soccer's top 50 MLS prospects for 2026 -- became the youngest player all-time to start an MLS regular season opener for Sporting KC and the Sporting KC Academy product was the youngest in MLS to play the full 90 minutes on Matchday 1.

Columbus suffered a late 3-2 loss at Portland as Ariel Lassiter struck for the Timbers in the 88th minute. Crew striker Wessam Abou Ali played a part in both goals for the visitors, scoring the game's opening goal in the sixth minute and setting up Diego Rossi to level the match at 2-2 on the cusp of halftime.

Abou Ali is one of three Designated Players for Columbus along with Rossi and Daniel Gazdag, who each have previously earned MLS Best XI selections. The Crew roster also features wingback Max Arfsten, who was part of the U.S. Men's National Team at the Gold Cup last year, and defender Steven Moreira, who helped Cape Verde qualify for their first World Cup berth this summer.

Saturday marks Sporting Kansas City's first MLS home match in the month of February, which will also be the team's first home match under new head coach Raphael Wicky. Similarly, the Crew are led by new manager Henrik Rydstrom after arriving from Malmo FF in Sweden, where he won league titles in 2023 and 2024 with a roster that featured Sporting KC midfielder Lasse Berg Johnsen.

The cross-conference clash will be available to watch in English (Nate Bukaty and Devon Kerr) and Spanish (Jesus Acosta) on Apple TV while pub partners in the Sporting Pub Network will also show all of the action. In addition, local radio coverage will air on Sports Radio 810 WHB (Blake Aerni and Jon Kempin) and La Grande 1340 AM (Josue Orantes and Diego Gutierrez).

Sporting Kansas City vs. Columbus Crew

2026 MLS Regular Season | Game 2

Saturday, Feb. 28 | 7:30 p.m. CT (7:40 kickoff)

Sporting Park | Kansas City, Kansas

Broadcast Schedule

Watch: Apple TV

Listen: 810 AM, 1340 AM or SKC App

Check out the Sporting Kansas City Statistics

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Major League Soccer Stories from February 27, 2026


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