Are you pining for the Rapids' 2009 schedule? Tossing and turning at night wondering whether the Rapids will play on your birthday this year? Anxiously trying to plan your trip to Alabama for your cousin-in-law's wedding in mid-June but don't want to take the chance of missing any of your Rapids' home games?Well, you won't have to wait much longer. The complete regular season schedules for the Rapids and all MLS teams will be made public this Wednesday.
While all MLS clubs have known their first 2 home games of the season for a while now, MLS has been busily negotiating the complete 2009 MLS schedule for the last few months while fans (and front offices) around the nation have been waiting with baited breath.
What takes so long to try and assemble a complete league schedule, you may ask? Various factors go into the equation, including trying to schedule amidst stadium blackout dates in each market (especially those cities without soccer-specific stadia), around international dates (a big priority for the league this year), avoiding mid-season competitions, preferred national TV dates, and this year, an odd number of teams.
Each team also submits to MLS a priority list of preferred dates they'd like to host for each season, and dates that they are unable to host matches each year.
Trust us, that nobody out there in the soccer world would want to have the job of the league staffer who's responsible for compiling all of that info. into complete schedules for each team and trying to ensure all the clubs are happy with the hands they are dealt; it's an unenviable task.
But the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight; starting this Wednesday, you can plan your entire 2009 from March-November, and schedule all other less pivotal events to move to non-Rapids gamedays.
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