SANDY, Utah (Wednesday, February 23, 2022) – Real Salt Lake fans have the option THIS SUNDAY to once again gather and support Real Salt Lake’s 2022 Major League Soccer season opener at Rio Tinto Stadium’s West-Side 2nd-Floor Interform Club with celebrity guests, prize packs and giveaways, along with U92 spinner E-Rock kicking off the new Claret-and-Cobalt era at 4:00 p.m. MT.
Television coverage for RSL at Houston Dynamo begins at 4:30 p.m. MT, with the 5p MT kickoff televised live on KMYU or streamed via KSL Sports / KSL TV apps by clicking the “RSL on KSL” option. Former RSL player and media analyst Jay Nolly will be joined by KUTV / 1280 the Zone personality David James at Rio Tinto Stadium. In addition to hosting Sunday’s fan festivities, James can be seen each and every Thursday night on KUTV / KMYU for the 30-minute “Talkin’ Real” show, co-hosted by RSL TV analyst Brian Dunseth, now in its 10th year.
The ESPN700 AM pre-game and post-game shows hosted by Spencer Warne and Lauren Beck will also be conducted on-site at Rio Tinto Stadium.
Sunday’s “family-friendly” watch party at Rio Tinto Stadium’s Interform Club also features the spectacularly-talented U92 deejay E-Rock, who will once again feature at all 17 of the Club’s 2022 home contests. Attendees at the Stadium party will enjoy access to the RSL Team Store’s 2022 season kickoff merchandise specials, with opportunities to win RSL prize packs, giveaways and gain access to 2022 “Road to the RioT” information as well.
ABOUT RSL’S UPCOMING GAMES:
RSL is unbeaten in its last 12 season opening matches, posting a 6-0-6 (Win-Loss-Draw) record since 2010, the second-best mark in MLS over that period (FC Dallas, 7-0-5, also last lost a season opener in 2009. RSL enters the 2022 season with a 6-5-6 (W-L-D) record all-time in each year’s AWAY debuts dating back to its inaugural 2005 season. Against Houston, RSL is 12-12-9 all-time, but only 3-10-3 in the Bayou City. RSL’s last visit to Houston resulted in a scoreless draw on July 31, 2021, one of three road clean sheets a season ago.
Looking ahead to March 5, RSL enters the home portion of its 18th MLS campaign with a 7-1-9 (Win-Loss-Draw) record all-time in home-opening matches dating back to its inaugural 2005 season, with a 6-1-6 (W-L-D) all-time mark in those held at Rio Tinto Stadium. The 2021 season saw RSL earn an emphatic 3-1 win in its home opener over Sporting Kansas City, riding a brace from FW Rubio Rubin and a third goal from eventual RSL 2021 Golden Boot winner Damir Kreilach to vanquish one of its key rivals.
All-time in MLS regular-season play against Seattle, Real Salt Lake is 10-1-3 on Utah soil, unbeaten at home against the Sounders since May 28, 2011, a 2-1 road result for the “Rave Green.” During the decade since, RSL has posted a dominant 10-0-1 record at home against Seattle, including a 1-0 victory last September courtesy another game-winner from 2021 Team MVP Kreilach.
Real Salt Lake – which won MLS Cup in 2009, before losing in the final in 2013 – has advanced to the postseason 11 times in 14 seasons, and three occasions in the last four years (2020 outlier). The Claret-and-Cobalt join Sporting KC as ONLY two of 26 possible MLS clubs to have advanced at least one round in the MLS Cup Playoffs in three of the last four years, something so-called “powerhouses” have failed to accomplish.
