Galaxy-LAFC game at the Rose Bowl postponed until July 4
On Friday morning, MLS announced that Saturday’s season opener between the Galaxy and LAFC at the Rose Bowl had been postponed because of the possibility of severe weather. About five hours later, the teams announced a new date for the game: Tuesday, July 4.
Tickets purchased for Saturday’s game will be honored for the rescheduled match.
With forecasts calling for heavy rain, thunderstorms and the possibility of flooding and lightning that could require players and spectators to shelter in place, MLS officials decided it was unwise to go forward with the game, which was expected to draw close to 80,000 fans. But scheduling the game at the Rose Bowl was something of “a Rubik’s cube,” said Jens Weiden, the stadium’s CEO, because of the team’s crowded schedule.
The solution? The Galaxy moved its traditional July 4 home game from Dignity Health Sports Park and changed opponents from St. Louis City to LAFC. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m.
The St. Louis City match will now be played in Carson on Sept. 10.
LAFC opens the season against the Galaxy and has its sights set on doing something that hasn’t been in more than a decade: repeating as MLS champion.
Weather concerns also led the league to postpone Sporting Kansas City’s season opener in Portland. That game, originally scheduled for Saturday, will be played Monday night.
“Calendars aren’t simple. But there’s no more important sport for us than soccer, so we’ve opened up pretty much our entire calendar to the Galaxy on this one because they were the home team,” Weiden had said before the makeup date was announced.
More than 70,000 tickets to Saturday’s scheduled match had been distributed by midweek and Weiden said, because a near sellout was expected, playing the game on a weekday was not ideal. But playing on a holiday was an acceptable compromise.
“When you have a match that’s pretty much, if not sold out already, that shows that people want to come here and want to come see it,” he said. “It is the best matchup in MLS.”
The Galaxy are coming off just their second MLS playoff appearance in six years and will look to build on it with a revamped roster.
The Galaxy now will open their regular season March 4, on the road against FC Dallas, and LAFC, the reigning MLS champion, will play its first game on the same date at BMO Stadium, hosting the Portland Timbers.
Saturday’s game was to be the marquee matchup of the regular season’s opening weekend, the first with Apple TV as the league’s broadcast partner. The company paid $2.5 billion to stream the league’s games over the next 10 seasons.
