Women’s Professional Soccer released its 2010 schedule on Thursday, revealing some key dates for the All-Star Game, playoffs and interesting regular season match-ups.
For the full schedule, click here.
The All-Star Game, which will be in a yet to be determined location, will take place on Wednesday, June 30. Fans might want to cue the ‘burnt-out player’ excuses now, though. The Wednesday kick-off is surrounded by weekend match-ups on each end of the week. The Boston Breakers, Philadelphia Independence, Washington Freedom and FC Gold Pride all play the weekend before and after that Wednesday showcase.
The WPS Championship will against be broadcast on regional Fox Sports Networks on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 2 p.m. ET.
Fox Soccer Channel will broadcast 20 regular season games. In a very smart move, the last two weeks of nationally-televised match-ups will be determined at a later date in order to choose those that have the most implications on the playoff picture.
FSC’s distribution of games is extremely even. Here is how many times each team will be featured on national TV (excluding the final two TBD games):
* Sky Blue FC – 5
* Boston Breakers – 5
* Philadelphia Independence – 5
* Washington Freedom – 5
* FC Gold Pride – 5
* Atlanta Beat – 4
* Saint Louis Athletica – 4
* Chicago Red Stars – 3
With FC Gold Pride being the only West Coast team, there was significant question as to how the schedule would shape up for the Bay Area squad in order to limit travel costs. The team’s road schedule clearly takes that into account, with a few road mid-week/weekend doubleheaders on the East Coast.
Here are the trips that FC Gold Pride would most likely stay on the East Coast instead of paying to go back to California:
* Wednesday, June 9 @ Saint Louis
* Sunday, June 13 @ Philadelphia
* Wednesday, July 21 @ Boston
* Saturday, July 24 @ Washington
* Sunday, August 22 @ Chicago
* Saturday, August 28 @ Atlanta
* Wednesday, Sept. 1 @ Sky Blue FC
That last road trip might include a trip back to the Bay Area from Chciago before heading out to Atlanta, but these Wednesday games will allow FC Gold Pride to stay on the East Coast instead of making special trips for individual games. That is a smart move by the league.
Also of note is Boston experimenting with a game in Connecticut, most likely at Veterans’ Stadium in New Britain, Conn. See General Manager Andy Crossley’s tweet here.
Notice that the Breakers have one “TBD” site of a home game on Saturday, August 21 against the Atlanta Beat. If plans work out, that will be the game. Nothing is official yet, though.
