HARRISON, N.J. – The Red Bulls will open the MLS season at home against Sporting Kansas City Saturday, April 17 at 1 p.m. ET, Major League Soccer announced Wednesday.

Following a recent announcement by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Red Bull Arena will host a limited number of the fans for the first time since last March.

The Red Bulls and Red Bull Arena are finalizing specific protocols to welcome fans back to RBA, with health and safety as the highest priority. Specific protocols and information on health and safety changes to RBA, in-line with MLS guidelines, applicable state law and guidance from local health authorities, will be released prior to April 17. New York Red Bulls Red Members will have priority access to tickets for all regular season matches, and will be contacted directly with additional details following the full schedule release from MLS.

The Red Bulls will travel out West to face the LA Galaxy for a nationally televised match Sunday, April 25, with a 5:30 p.m. ET kickoff on FS1 and FOX Deportes.

The Red Bulls are 10-9-6 all-time in season openers, and 7-2-1 when opening at home. New York is 4-1-0 when opening the season at RBA, most recently defeating FC Cincinnati in the 2020 MLS opener.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.