Major League Soccer announced Thursday that it is suspending its season for 30 days due to concerns over the coronavirus. That means the Fire’s game Saturday at Orlando City and the anticipated March 21 home opener against Atlanta United have been postponed.
Thursday’s news follows a slew of cancellations in the sports world. The NBA has suspended its season and multiple NCAA conference basketball tournaments have been cancelled.
“Our clubs were united today in the decision to temporarily suspend our season – based on the advice and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and other public health authorities, and in the best interest of our fans, players, officials and employees,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a news release. “We’d like to thank our fans for their continued support during this challenging time.”
The announcement is a major blow to the Fire and the franchise’s staff, who have been heavily promoting the March 21 game since Oct. 8 when they formalized their move back to Soldier Field. They recently announced they’d sold over 30,000 tickets for the game, and it’s believed sales have climbed past the 40,000 mark.
Beyond just the sales, the match with Atlanta was supposed to serve as a reintroduction to the team and a formal introduction to the experience at Soldier Field. But that will have to wait.
“We all share in the health and well-being of our community,” Fire president Nelson Rodríguez said in a news release. “We will continue regular dialogue with all city, state, national and league authorities on issues relating to COVID-19 and will provide fans and partners updates accordingly.”
The Fire said all tickets for the March 21 game will be honored for the rescheduled date. The team also said it “will work with ticket holders on appropriate credits or refunds for this and any other games.”
MLS said it will discuss the next steps “at the appropriate time.”
