"This Week in Sporting," presented by The Smile Generation, is a biweekly series that highlights the biggest storylines and news updates from Sporting Kansas City. To visit the series archive, click here.
1. The Road Starts Here
Sporting Kansas City’s 25th season as a founding member of Major League Soccer will begin in earnest Saturday when the club visits Vancouver Whitecaps FC at BC Place. The long-awaited Week 1 clash will kick off at 9:30 p.m. CT with three hours of live coverage starting at 9 p.m. CT on FOX Sports Kansas City, FOX Sports Midwest Plus and FOX Sports GO. Listeners can also catch the action locally on Sports Radio 810 WHB (English) and La Grande 1340 AM (Spanish), immediately followed by The Final Whistle postgame show on 810 WHB.
Led by 12th-year manager Peter Vermes—the longest tenured MLS coach and the only coach to spend 12 consecutive MLS seasons with the same team—Sporting won four major championships last decade and made eight straight playoff appearances from 2011-2018. The club fell short of the postseason last year, ending the fourth-longest playoff streak in league history, and will enter the new campaign with aspirations of becoming a title contender once more.
2. First Kick Party
To celebrate the start of the 2020 season, fans of all ages are welcome to join Sporting Kansas City for the First Kick Party on Saturday at Corinth Square in Prairie Village, Kansas (8221 Corinth Mall). Serving as a festive lead-up to Sporting’s season opener later that evening, the First Kick Party will feature interactive and family-friendly activities, decadent food and beverage samples from First Watch and BRGR, specials at multiple Corinth Square shops, SportingStyle merchandise, FIFA 20 inside No Other Bus presented by Security Bank, and a free youth soccer clinic. Event programming will begin at 1 p.m. CT and more information is available here.
3. Sporting's Streetcar
The KC Streetcar Authority is ready to kick off the 2020 Sporting Kansas City season with a specially designed Sporting Streetcar as part of the club's One Sporting Way campaign. Streetcar 803 will be wrapped in a Sporting Blue and Dark Indigo design highlighted by images of the team's seven major championship trophies, the state line brand element found in the Sporting KC crest and the Swiss Dot pattern seen on this year's secondary kit.
The Sporting Streetcar will officially roll out today on the eve of Sporting Kansas City's season opener in Vancouver, and the launch will be celebrated from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with Sporting KC brand ambassadors and the team's mascot, Blue, handing out passports with the following Sporting Specials (valid until March 8 at participating locations):
- $5 Sporting KC Ice Water & Horsefeather at J. Rieger & Co.
- Buy one, get one Michelob Ultras at Bar K
- $6 margherita pizza and $6 Sporting Negroni at Il Lazzarone
- $5 off $20+ at BRGR
- $2 off appetizers and $4 Sporting drink specials at No Other Pub
- Free any size drip coffee at Parisi
4 Sporting Sounds
Ahead of Saturday's matchup in Vancouver, several members of Sporting made local radio appearances to preview the 2020 campaign. Catch each podcast at the links below:
- Tuesday: The Sporting KC Show on 810 WHB (Khiry Shelton and Kerry Zavagnin)
- Tuesday: Daniel Salloi on 610 Sports Radio (The Nutmeg Podcast with Josh Klingler)
- Wednesday: Peter Vermes on 810 WHB
- Thursday: Matt Besler on 810 WHB
5. He's a Keeper
Sporting Kansas City has signed 18-year-old goalkeeper John Pulskamp as a Homegrown Player, the club announced this week. Pulskamp has inked a three-year MLS contract through 2022 with an option for 2023, becoming the second-youngest goalkeeper in team history.
Sporting has added Pulskamp to the club’s 2020 roster after acquiring his Homegrown rights from the LA Galaxy in exchange for $50,000 in 2020 General Allocation Money. A native of Bakersfield, California, Pulskamp appeared in four of Sporting’s six exhibition matches during the 2020 preseason, presented by Children’s Mercy. He contributed to shutouts against Real Salt Lake, FC Cincinnati and a team of Phoenix Rising FC trialists as Sporting prepared for the 2020 MLS campaign in Arizona.
6. Stars at Swope
Swope Soccer Village in Kansas City, Missouri will host the 2020 Development Academy Championships from July 9-12. National champions will be crowned for boys at the U-15, U-16/17 and U-18/19 age groups as well as girls at the U-15, U-16 and U-17 age groups. The nation’s four best teams at each level will compete at the event, which serves as the culmination of the Academy season, to take home a championship.
