RSL unveils 2016 schedule; re-signs defenders Phillips, Kavita

SANDY — Real Salt Lake unveiled its 34-game regular season slate in 2016 as part of Major League Soccer's scheduling announcement Thursday, a slate that includes its longest road trip in club history.

RSL, which finished outside the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time in seven years last season, will open league play March 6 at Orlando City SC. The game will be RSL's first-ever match in the state of Florida.

The Salt Lake side returns home a week later for a March 12 match against Seattle Sounders FC. The Western Conference rivals kick off the home slate at Rio Tinto Stadium, and RSL will once again travel to Seattle for a final weekend "Decision Day" showdown on Oct. 23, as well.

RSL will face its longest road trip in club history beginning May 7, when it travels to Colorado for a Rocky Mountain Cup match. The team will not play in Sandy until June 18 against Portland, traveling to Houston, Kansas City, Columbus and New York City FC while Rio Tinto Stadium undergoes a field replacement from May 1 through June 15.

In all, RSL will play three of its first four and nine of its first 13 league matches on the road.

Most of RSL's matches will be broadcast on local affiliate KMYU and the MLS Live subscription service. RSL's game Aug. 14 at Seattle on Fox Sports 1 is the only nationally broadcast game on an English language channel currently on the schedule. Four additional games have undetermined broadcasts: July 13 at Vancouver, July 31 at Philadelphia, Aug. 3 at Toronto and Oct. 16 at Kansas City.

In what has become a tradition at the Salt Lake club, RSL will not play on July 4 or July 24. The annual Independence Day and Pioneer Day matches will be played July 1 against D.C. United and July 22 against San Jose. Both games, which will be broadcast on MLS's Spanish-language national affiliate Univision, will feature postgame fireworks in honor of the holiday weekends.

RSL RE-SIGNS PHILLIPS, KAVITA — Real Salt Lake also announced Thursday it has reached new agreements with defenders Demar Phillips and Phanuel Kavita. The club initially declined to exercise team options on the two players following the 2015 season. Phillips, a Jamaican national team veteran, signed with RSL ahead of the 2015 season, but injuries and international call-ups kept the 32-year-old outside back from playing in just 18 matches.

"We had great conversations with Demar and the maturity he showed really impressed us," RSL general manage Craig Waibel said in a statement. "He was really frustrated with the season he had and we wanted to make sure we are on the same page. It makes it easy to bring a guy like that back."

Kavita, a Highland High graduate, originally signed an RSL homegrown player contract last season. The former Clemson centerback made two appearances for RSL in MLS regular-season play, as well as 18 appearances with the third-division affiliate Real Monarchs.

"He's a good young player and a fantastic human being," Waibel said of Kavita. "He's driven to prove the people who have supported him his whole life right and he's driven to make this work."

Per team policy, financial details of the two deals were not released.

Below is the complete 2016 regular season schedule for RSL.

Related topics