The opening day of the MLS 2025 season takes place on Saturday and through into the early hours of Sunday morning when the majority of the teams in the competition get an eagerly anticipated campaign up and running.
As has been the case for the last two seasons, Apple TV have full live coverage of every match via the MLS Season Pass with some matches available for just Apple TV subscribers. Bookmaker live streams will show the games too.
Saturday’s fixtures are as follows: (UK kick off in brackets; 00.30 unless stated)
Los Angeles FC vs Minnesota United (21.45)
Atlanta United vs CF Montreal
Columbus Crew vs Chicago Fire
DC United vs Toronto FC
FC Cincinnati vs New York Red Bulls
Inter Miami CF vs New York City FC
Orlando City SC vs Philadelphia Union
Austin FC vs Sporting Kansas City (01.30)
Houston Dynamo vs FC Dallas (01.30)
Nashville SC vs New England Revolution (01.30)
St Louis City SC vs Colorado Rapids (01.30)
San Jose Earthquakes vs Real Salt Lake (03.30)
Seattle Sounders vs Charlotte FC (03.30)
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Big Matches
The opening match of the new MLS season comes from California but it doesn’t feature the champions. We have to wait until Sunday to see the LA Galaxy in action. Instead it is their rivals Los Angeles FC who get the campaign going when they host Minnesota United. Inter Miami will start their season out against New York City FC while the MLS Cup finalists New York Red Bulls go to FC Cincinnati in what should be a decent match. We also have a battle of Texas as the Houston Dynamo play host to a reinforced FC Dallas side.
Best of the Rest
The 2023 champions Columbus Crew are on show on the opening night of the season when they welcome Chicago Fire to Lower.com Field while Orlando City SC play host to a Philadelphia Union who will be playing without Jim Curtin as coach for the first time in ages. Two sides who must be better this season meet in the capital as DC United host Toronto FC while moving to the Western Conference, Austin FC will hope to see the fruits of their off-season spending when they host Sporting Kansas City while St Louis City host the Colorado Rapids. At the end of the night San Jose Earthquakes host Real Salt Lake and the Seattle Sounders begin their season against Charlotte FC.
Betting
I could easily go with a whole bunch of bets for the opening night of the season but I’m going to keep myself to four as I go about assessing all of the teams. The first bet is on the big spending Atlanta United who will be expected to deliver from the starting gate. They have spent the better part of $45m rebuilding this roster and the likes of Miggy Almiron and Emmanuel Latte Lath bring a high level of quality with them. CF Montreal have lost the likes of Josef Martinez ahead of the new season and are the youngest squad in MLS this term. They might be fearless but their best work will come at home. Atlanta will want to put a statement out and I expect them to cover a -1 Asian line in doing so.
Inter Miami and New York City FC were expected to kick the new season off but the Champions Cup clash involving the former meant that this match was put back five hours to allow Miami to get back from Kansas City. Ordinarily, they would want to rest players here but on home soil in a season opener that can’t really be the case so I expect some fireworks when they and New York City FC collide. There is nothing to suggest that this aging Miami side can’t still be got at and NYCFC have the personnel to do it but you don’t shut Messi and co out in Florida very often so the goals should flow nicely as they often do in this part of the Sunshine State.
The third bet of the night comes in the form of Orlando City SC to justify their spending in the off-season when they host a Philadelphia Union side who might just be about to begin a transition period. I say that as much because of a change in head coach after an eternity as much as I do the revolving door from a player perspective. Union struggled last season once Julian Carranza headed for Europe and they have lost the likes of Jack Elliott, Sam Adeniran and Jack McGlynn from their roster and had to re-sign Alejandro Bedoya who can’t be a starter at his age. I think Philly could be outgunned from the outset this season and Orlando look a very good attacking potential now that Martin Ojeda has made his way into the middle. Eduard Atuesta has quality in the middle of the park and Marco Pasalic lessens the loss of Facundo Torres. This looks all set for Orlando to cover a -1 Asian line.
My final bet on the opening night of the season comes from Q2 Stadium where I expect Austin FC to take full advantage of the situational context to their match with Sporting Kansas City. SKC just played Inter Miami in -13 temperatures in midweek and that has to have impacted them. They won’t have had much time to recover before boarding the flight to Austin but the second leg of that Champions Cup tie comes along on Tuesday night and Kansas City will be heading to Miami trying to overturn a 1-0 deficit. That tie is likely to take up much of their attention this week and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a second string fielded by Peter Vermes in an away game on a short week. Austin have signed really well in the off-season with Brandon Vazquez a particularly appealing signing. I expect big things from the boys in green this term and that can begin with a comfortable home win over a jaded and potentially understrength Sporting Kansas City.
Tips
Back Atlanta United (-1AH) to beat CF Montreal for a 3/10 stake at 1.94 with Unibet
Back Inter Miami vs New York City FC – Over 3.25 goals for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
Back Orlando City SC (-1AH) to beat Philadelphia Union for a 3/10 stake at 1.98 with Bet365
Back Austin FC to beat Sporting Kansas City for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
