Circle the Date

The first chance for Revolution fans to see the Jay Heaps-led Revolution at Gillette Stadium in 2012 will arrive on Saturday, Mar. 24, according to an MLS release detailing each club’s home opening date. New England’s opponent for its home opener has not yet been announced.

With First Kick scheduled for the weekend of March 10th – the earliest opening weekend in league history –  it appears that the Revolution will once again commence the new season on the road and remain there through the first two weeks of the season. The last time the Revolution kicked off their season at home was in 2008 when they hosted the Houston Dynamo on Mar. 29.

For the second straight year, each team will play 34 regular season games. However, with the addition of Montreal as MLS’s 19th franchise in 2012, as well as an emerging focus on easing travel burdens leaguewide, each team will play the bulk of its matches within its respective conference.

Each Eastern Conference club will play 25 intra-conference matches, with nine inter-conference games against Western Conference competition. Western Conference squads will have 24 intra-conference matches, in addition to 10 games against Eastern Conference foes. The disparity between the conference schedules is the byproduct of Montreal’s addition to the Eastern Conference, which gives the eastern table one additional team (10) over its western counterpart (9).

The league is expected to release its full 2012 schedule by February 2012.