Sporting Kansas City will learn its three group stage opponents in the historic MLS is Back Tournament when the league conducts a live draw for the competition today at 2:30 p.m. CT. Fans can catch every minute of the the action live on this webpage and on Sporting's Facebook and Twitter platforms.
As announced Wednesday, all 26 MLS clubs will return to the field next month in a unique World Cup-style tournament beginning July 8 at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at the Walt Disney Resort in Florida.
Sporting's three group stage matches will count toward the 2020 regular season standings. From there, 16 of the 26 participants will advance to the knockout rounds and battle for a Concacaf Champions League berth and additional prize money.
Consequently, today's draw will determine the path to potential glory for each team.
Format
The 26 MLS clubs will be drawn into one of six groups. The 14-team Eastern Conference will have three groups, one of six teams and two with four teams each. The 12-team Western Conference, which includes Sporting Kansas City, will be divided into three groups of four clubs. For the remainder of the 2020 campaign, Nashville SC will move to the Eastern Conference.
Each group will have a seeded team. As the “host” team, Orlando City SC will be the top seed in the six-team group. The remaining five seeds will be:
- East: Atlanta United (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- East: Toronto FC (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: LAFC (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: Seattle Sounders (2019 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs semifinalist)
- West: Real Salt Lake (next highest points total in the Western Conference from 2019 season)
To determine which of the 20 unseeded clubs goes into which group, a representative from each of the six seeded clubs will participate in the draw by picking a number at random from their conference. Each number will correspond to a ball containing the name of an unseeded club that will join the seeded club's group.
Groups
Eastern Conference: Group A (6 clubs), Group C (4 clubs), Group E (4 clubs)
Western Conference: Group B, Group D, Group F (4 clubs each)
