MLS releases the 2022 schedule earlier than in most recent years. Does that quickness benefit the Galaxy? Probably not!
The LA Galaxy, along with Major League Soccer, have announced the 2022 schedule. That means all 34 regular-season games can now be unveiled as the club enters the second season under head coach Greg Vanney.
Among the changes for 2022, MLS dictated that every team would play their in-conference opponents a total of two times during the season. With 14 teams in the Western Conference — which now includes Nashville SC — that accounts for 26 of the 34 total games. That means that just eight games will be played among the Eastern Conference with those games being evenly split between home and away.
Among the highlights for the Galaxy will be the first El Trafico of the season at Dignity Health Sports Park just six games into the season. That game will be broadcast nationally on FOX on Sautrday, April 9. ESPN will get the return leg of this matchup on Friday, July 8 at Banc of California Stadium.
The Galaxy will open the season by hosting New York City FC on Sunday, February 27 — the defending MLS Cup Champions — and then traveling to Charlotte to play in Charlotte’s first-ever home game at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, March 5th.
The Galaxy will also have matchups against Eastern Conference opponents Atlanta, Montreal, Orlando, the previously mentioned Charlotte and NYCFC, as well as Chicago, Bruce Arena’s New England, and Toronto FC.
Nashville SC will make their first-ever trip to Los Angeles to play the Galaxy on Saturday, April 23rd, and the Galaxy will return that favor on Saturday, September 10 when they’ll play at the newly finished Stadium Tennessee.
In total, the Galaxy will be featured 16 times on National Television across Major League Soccer broadcast partners ABC, ESPN, FOX, FS1, Univision, and UniMás. That includes eight nationally televised games at Dignity Health Sports Park. Local broadcasting will be announced in the coming weeks.
July and August will be the busiest months for the Galaxy. Each of those months will see the Galaxy playing six games. April and May each have five games, September with four games, March with three games, June and October with just two games, and February with just the single game.
Among other notable games will be the July 4th home match against Montreal, and the Cali-Classico’s against the San Jose Earthquakes. That will see a trip to Stanford Stadium for the Galaxy on June 25 and a midweek matchup against the Earthquakes at DHSP on Wednesday, July 13.
The Galaxy will play just five-midweek games (all Wednesdays), play on Friday just twice, and only a single Monday game that takes place on July 4th. So the vast majority of games, 28 to be exact, will take place during the weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
The LA Galaxy finished the 2021 season by missing the playoffs with a record of 13-12-9 (48 points).
