Full season schedules have been released on Thursdays in early January the past three years -- the 7th in 2016, the 12th in 2017 and the 4th in 2018. Here is an update on projected weekend home dates for NYCFC based on new information since the initial post in August.
[March 2 @ ORL]
March 10 v. DCU
March 16/17
*March 23/24
April
6/7
April 27/28
June 29/30
July 6/7
July 27
Aug 24/25
*Sept
7/8
Sept 14
Oct 20/27 -- Game 34
(* FIFA dates; Gold Cup: June 15-July 7)
Aside from the announcement of home openers,
The Athletic (paywall) and others have mentioned that the "average number of weekday games per team will go from four to six" as part of the compressed regular season.
Start times for many of the Yankees games have been released, helping to narrow some weekend dates. NYY v. DET on April 3 is a 4pm start, pretty much taking out the 6th for NYCFC. Similarly, NYY v. TEX on Sept 4 is a 6:30pm start, so the 7th is also out. This is based on the 72-hour turnaround requirement.
As mentioned in the first post, NYY v. ARI on July 30 at 7pm means NYCFC would need to play a day game on Saturday July 27. With the league moving away from summer daytime kickoffs, that's potentially a lost weekend home match.
Even including July 27, I'm counting 11 weekends at the most.
The earlier end to the season also raises the issue of our last home match down the stretch. The last weekend slot available is Sept 14 -- a full three weekends before Decision Day on Oct 6. Sept 25/26 is the last weekday slot available.
The AL wildcard isn't scheduled until Oct 2 -- as posted by
adam upthread -- so the weekend of Sept 28/29 is technically open. But with a Yankees makeup or play-in game on Sept 30 always a possibility, there's no rational way an NYCFC match gets scheduled that weekend.
Edited to correct Gold Cup dates.
