WASHINGTON, D.C. - D.C. United, along with Major League Soccer and HDNet, announced today the national broadcast schedule of "MLS on HDNet," featuring six prime-time, high definition United telecasts during the 2005 season.
With six total broadcasts, United is second only to the Columbus Crew, who will be shown seven times during the season. United's home opener versus the Chicago Fire on April 9 will be the first D.C. game shown on HDNet, followed just two weeks later by the first meeting between the Black-and-Red and the New England Revolution since the thrilling 2004 Eastern Conference Championship, a game D.C. won 3-2 on penalty kicks.
Following the two early season home games, United will be featured on four broadcasts that will all take place away from home. United games versus San Jose (6/4), Columbus (7/2), Colorado (9/3) and FC Dallas (9/10) highlight the rest of the team's HDNet schedule.
HDNet will broadcast 28 MLS games in total. The broadcast team of Marcelo Balboa and Glenn Davis returns for their third season together in the booth. Celebrating his tenth 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 a color analyst and play-by play for FC Dallas (formerly Dallas Burn) and 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 first 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.
