Sporting KC hosts Orlando City SC in U.S. Open Cup tonight
Sporting KC players selected for international duty
Six Sporting KC players on ballot for MLS All-Star voting
MLS All-Stars to host AS Roma in 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game
Sporting KC sponsors Summer Beer Festival on Saturday
Sporting Columbia SC announced as Sporting KC Academy Affiliate
Sporting KC drawn into Group 2 of CONCACAF Champions League
Tickets on sale for all Sporting KC home matches in 2013
Sporting KC in the community
Single day tickets on sale now for Flatlands Festival
Sporting KC season tickets sold out for 2013 season
Sporting Park to host U.S. MNT in World Cup Qualifier
Sporting Club launches The Victory Project
Away tickets available now
Vote Sporting in #SocialMadness and City's Best 2013
Follow Sporting KC online
SPORTING KC HOSTS ORLANDO CITY SC IN U.S. OPEN CUP TONIGHT
Tonight, Sporting KC will host USL PRO club Orlando City SC in the fourth round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The winner of the match will advance to the quarterfinals and face the winner of the Chicago Fire / Columbus Crew on June 26.
Tickets for tonight's match are still available and can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or at the Sporting Park box office. Wednesday's match will also be streamed live on theSporting KC YouTube channel.
SPORTING KC PLAYERS SELECTED FOR INTERNATIONAL DUTY
Sporting KC midfielder Graham Zusi and defender Matt Besler featured for the U.S. Men's National Team in Friday's 2-1 World Cup qualifier win over Jamaica. Each player played 90 minutes and Zusi assisted on the team's first goal. Besler followed up that performance with 90 minutes in Tuesday's 2-0 win over Panama to push the U.S. MNT into first place in their qualifying group.
On Tuesday, Peterson Joseph and Mechack Jerome were part of an historic match for Haiti, as the two Sporting KC players featured in a 2-2 draw against European giant Italy. Each player also saw time in Haiti's 2-1 loss to defending World Cup champion Spain on Saturday.
Kei Kamara scored for Sierra Leone as the Leone Stars kept their World Cup dreams alive with a 2-2 draw on Saturday. Sierra Leone sit in second place in Group B, five points back of Tunisia for the coveted top spot to advance to the third round of qualifying, and will next face Cape Verde Islands on June 15 at Estádio da Várzea in Praia.
Lastly, Sporting KC rookie midfielder Mikey Lopez was named to the U.S. U-20 roster for the upcoming FIFA U-20 World Cup. The U-20 MNT opens group play against Spain on Friday, June 21, at Ali Sami Yen Arena in Istanbul.
SIX SPORTING KC PLAYERS ON BALLOT FOR MLS ALL-STAR VOTING
On Monday, Major League Soccer revealed the six Sporting Kansas City nominees among the 115 players who were nominated for the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game fan ballot by a panel of media members. Sporting Kansas City's representatives are defender Matt Besler, forward Claudio Bieler, defender Aurelien Collin, goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen, midfielder Oriol Rosell and midfielder Graham Zusi.
Fan voting began on Monday and will continue through July 2 online at MLSSoccer.com and via text, by messaging the player's last name to 22442.
MLS ALL-STARS TO HOST AS ROMA IN 2013 AT&T MLS ALL-STAR GAME
This year, Major League Soccer will play Italian giants AS Roma in the 2013 AT&T MLS All-Star Game. The marquee match will be played Wednesday, July 31 at Sporting Park. The annual summer showcase will be broadcast live on ESPN2, UniMás, and in Canada on TSN and RDS starting at 8 p.m. CT.
SPORTING KC SPONSORS SUMMER BEER FESTIVAL ON SATURDAY
For the second straight year, Sporting Kansas City is proud to present the annual Summer Beer Festival, a tribute to craft beers and benefit for AIDS Walk Kansas City. The event will take place on Saturday, June 15th from 5-9 p.m. CT on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of McCoy's in Westport.
Over 30 breweries from around the world will be highlighted during the event and all in attendance -- including Sporting Kansas City's Jimmy Nielsen, Benny Feilhaber and Seth Sinovic -- will receive a commemorative Sporting KC tasting glass, have the chance to sample more than 70 exclusive beers and enjoy the opportunity to mingle with the creators of the beers being poured. Visit BeerKC.com for a list of participating breweries.
Tickets for the Summer Beer Festival are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Get them here and RSVP on Facebook.
SPORTING COLUMBIA SC ANNOUNCED AS SPORTING KC ACADEMY AFFILIATE
Columbia Soccer Club of Columbia, Mo. has officially joined forces with Sporting Kansas City and Sporting Club as the newest Academy Affiliate in the Sporting Club Network. Rebranded as Sporting Columbia SC, the club becomes the second Academy Affiliate in Missouri along with Sporting StL Rangers in giving players of the state a direct path to the Sporting Kansas City senior team.
SPORTING KC DRAWN INTO GROUP 2 OF CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Sporting Kansas City was drawn into Group 2 of the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League at the official draw last week in Miami. Sporting KC will face C.D. Olimpia of Honduras and Real Estelí FC of Nicaragua in a home-and-home series with the group winner advancing to the quarterfinal round.
TICKETS ON SALE FOR ALL SPORTING KC HOME MATCHES IN 2013
Sporting KC announced last week that individual tickets for the final eight MLS home matches are on sale now. Tickets are available at Ticketmaster.com or at the Sporting Park box office.
SPORTING KC IN THE COMMUNITY
Sporting KC's Mechack Jerome and Peterson Joseph will appear at local Price Choppers this weekend. Jerome's appearance will take place on Saturday from 2-3:30 p.m. at 22210 West 66th in Shawnee Mission. Joseph's appearance will take place on Sunday from 2-3:30 on 4950 Roe Blvd in Roeland Park.
On Saturday, Jimmy Nielsen will hold a book signing event from 12:30 - 2 p.m. CT at Nebraska Furniture Mart in Kansas City, Kan. for his new book Welcome to the Blue Heaven: Don't Bet Against the Goalkeeper.
SINGLE-DAY TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR FLATLANDS FESTIVAL
Single-day tickets for the Flatlands Country Music Festival at Sporting Park from Sept. 12-14 are on sale to the general public, starting as low as $59 each. The new country music and camping festival, presented by Marquee Events and Sporting Club, will feature performances from several of the most popular artists in country music over three days.
Luke Bryan, Darius Rucker, Rodney Atkins, Thompson Square and Kevin Fowler will perform on Friday, Sept. 13. Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Kellie Pickler, Love and Theft, and JT Hodges will then take the stage on Sat., Sept. 14.
The 24,000 expected to be in attendance will have the opportunity to camp in nearby areas and enjoy all amenities associated with the state-of-the-art venue. For more information visit flatlandsfestival.com or call 800-493-3378.
SPORTING KC SEASON TICKETS SOLD OUT FOR 2013 SEASON
Sporting Kansas City announced that the club's allotment of 14,000 season tickets for the 2013 season at Sporting Park are sold out. Prospective Season Ticket Members may join the club's Season Ticket Member waiting list by placing a $50 non-refundable deposit per season ticket request.
Sporting Kansas City currently leads all MLS teams in the total number of new Season Ticket Members for 2013 and have averaged over a 90% Season Ticket Member renewal rate for the last three seasons.
Sporting Kansas City have also begun sales for new five-game 'Pick Plans.' All plans include the team's match on July 3 against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC as well as four additional Sporting KC matches of the buyer's choice, including U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions League or any of the remaining MLS regular season games.
SPORTING PARK TO HOST U.S. MNT IN WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Sporting Park will host the U.S. Men's National Team on Oct. 11 in the team's final home qualifying match for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The United States returns to Sporting Park to play Jamaica, live on the ESPN family, WatchESPN and UniMas. Kickoff time and ticket information will be released at a later date.
Sporting Park, home to Major League Soccer's Sporting Kansas City, will host the U.S. Men's National Team for the third time since opening in June 2011. The state-of-the-art, $200+ million venue will also host the 2013 MLS All-Star Game on July 31.
SPORTING CLUB LAUNCHES THE VICTORY PROJECT
Sporting Club recently announced the launch of The Victory Project, a new community-driven foundation that will meaningfully and tangibly impact children with cancer in the Kansas City region. A key component of The Victory Project is to raise funds to address specific needs of individual children undergoing cancer treatment, where those needs are not supported by insurance. Donors will have the unique opportunity to know exactly how their funds are being used, and for whom. All funds raised will go directly to helping these children, who are here in Kansas City.
In addition to raising money, the organization hopes to provide encouragement to children in their daily battles with cancer. At each Sporting Kansas City home match, Sporting Club welcomes a special guest affected by cancer, and their family, to the Victory Suite at Sporting Park and recognizes the individual in a special pre-match ceremony.
For more information on The Victory Project, visit VictoryKC.org or contact Community Programs Manager Brandi Thomas at 913-235-2101.
AWAY TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW
Reserve your free away ticket to Sporting Kansas City's July 7 match at the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park, July 20 at Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium and July 27 at Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo by clicking here.
VOTE SPORTING IN #SOCIALMADNESS AND CITY'S BEST 2013
Sporting Kansas City has been recently nominated for the Kansas City Business Journal #SocialMadness and Kansas City Magazine City's Best 2013.
The KC Business Journal #SocialMadness competition is broken into three segments divided by a companies collective social following. Sporting KC is in the large grouping with their 52,860 followers on Twitter, 76,016 likes on Facebook and 143,660 +1's on Google+. Currently Sporting KC sits in second place among the 11 companies in their grouping which also includes Kansas City Renaissance Festival, Sprint, Indigo Wild, Lockton Companies, LLC, Hitch Fit Online Personal Training, Legends Outlets Kansas City, UMB Bank, Gallagher North America, Cerner and the Kansas City Symphony. The top eight companies on June 17 will advance to Round Two. In total, Sporting KC will have to make it through four rounds of voting for a chance to be crowned overall winners on July 9.
Kansas City Magazine City's Best 2013 announced their round two nominations on Monday. Sporting Kansas City has been nominated in the Nightlife category for Hometown Sports Team along with four other local teams - the Royals, Chiefs, Mavericks and T-Bones. Voting goes through June 21.
FOLLOW SPORTING KC ONLINE
Sporting Kansas City fans looking to keep up with the club on the worldwide web now have a place to go. The social media page on SportingKC.com features Twitter account information for the club, its players as well as many staff members. Additionally, fans may take advantage of the Media Recap page for all the latest independent news coverage available online.
Also, Sporting Kansas City's 2013 media guide is now available online and fans can find all the latest information for Sporting Kansas City matches at SportingKC.com/GameOn.
