Major League Soccer and HDNet announced today the national broadcast schedule of the 2005 season of "MLS on HDNet", featuring 28 high-definition telecasts during the League's 10th Season. The exclusive nationally televised HDTV coverage of the third consecutive season begins on April 2 with the Los Angeles Galaxy visiting the Columbus Crew (7:30 p.m. ET) from Crew Stadium.
All 12 teams will be featured throughout the season, with the Columbus Crew leading the way with seven appearances. The Chicago Fire and D.C. United will be featured on six occasions, followed by Real Salt Lake (five) and the Colorado Rapids, Los Angeles Galaxy, Club Deportivo Chivas USA, San Jose Earthquakes and Kansas City Wizards each appearing four times. "MLS on HDNet" games will again be exclusively produced and broadcast by HDNet with HDNet announcers, graphics and crews. HDNet will also air features and interviews, all in the highest quality 1080i HDTV resolution and Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
Among the highlighted games are two of the highly anticipated local derbies between Chivas USA and the Los Angeles Galaxy from The Home Depot Center. Chivas USA will be the home team on May 28, with the Galaxy hosting their city rivals on July 16. On April 23, the HDNet crew heads to RFK Stadium in a rematch of the thrilling Eastern Conference Championship between the New England Revolution and D.C. United. HDNet will also once again carry the Colorado Rapids annual Fourth of July game and post-game fireworks show when the Kansas City Wizards travel to Denver on Independence Day. The final three games of the regular season will be selected at a later date to ensure the most intriguing matchups leading into the MLS Cup playoffs.
The broadcast team of Marcelo Balboa and Glenn Davis returns for their third season together in the booth. Celebrating his 10th season of MLS coverage, Davis will call the play-by-play with Balboa providing the color commentary. Davis, who also writes a weekly column for the Houston Chronicle, has previously worked both as a color analyst and play-by play for FC Dallas (formerly Dallas Burn) and for ESPN's coverage of the 2002 World Cup. Balboa, who is among 53 finalists nominated for induction to the National Soccer Hall of Fame, is also an analyst for ESPN's international soccer coverage including U.S. World Cup qualifiers.
HDNet is the leading all high definition national television network and currently available to high definition viewers on DirecTV, Dish Network and cable providers like Time-Warner and Adelphia.
The Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Español national television schedules along with each MLS club's regional television schedules, and the MLS Direct Kick season package on cable and satellite will be announced in the coming weeks.
