NWSL Schedule announced; Thorns home opener is June 2nd

The NWSL has released the 2019 schedule, and it looks like Thorns fans will be waiting for quite some time to see some of the Thorns players in a competitive game.

As expected, Portland will be away from home for a significant part of the early season while the expansion of Providence Park is completed. It’s going to mostly be an east coast tour, with two games (including the season opener) away at the Orlando Pride, two games away at Sky Blue, a visit to the Chicago Red Stars and one to the Washington Spirit. After their big east coast trip, however, the Thorns’ only significant travel is away at North Carolina on June 15th and away to Houston on June 29th, with the rest of their games either at home or a short hop away to Utah or Tacoma. The home opener against the Chicago Red Stars will be on June 2nd, only five days before the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, at which point the internationals representing their countries in France will be away from the team.

The NWSL will play on throughout most of the World Cup in France, with the Thorns playing a full four games while the tournament is taking place. They will host Reign FC at Providence Park on July 5th, only two days before the World Cup final.

Despite the NWSL recently parting ways with A+E (and thus walking away from their television deal with Lifetime) there are a significant number of noon games scheduled during the summertime. Look for those times to possibly change as the league sorts its television partnership out. As for now, all the games this season are planned to be broadcast on Yahoo Sports, and will always be available on NWSLsoccer.com for international viewers.

The full Thorns schedule is as follows (all times PST, home games in bold):

Sun., April 14 @ Orlando Pride, 2 p.m.

Sat., April 20 @ Chicago Red Stars, 12:30 p.m.

Sun., April 28 @ Sky Blue FC, 3 p.m.

Sat., May 11 @ Orlando Pride, 4:30 p.m.

Sat., May 18 @ Washington Spirit, 4 p.m.

Sat., May 25 @ Sky Blue FC, 3 p.m.

Sun., June 2 Chicago Red Stars, 3 p.m.

Sat., June 15 @ North Carolina Courage, 4:45 p.m.

Fri., June 21 Utah Royals FC, 8 p.m.

Sat., June 29 @ Houston Dash, 5:30 p.m.

Fri., July 5, Reign FC, 8 p.m.

Sun., July 14 Orlando Pride, 12 noon

Fri., July 19 @ Utah Royals FC, 7 p.m.

Wed., July 24 Houston Dash, 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Aug. 3 Sky Blue FC, 8 p.m.

Wed., Aug. 7 @ Reign FC, 7 p.m.

Sun., Aug. 11 North Carolina Courage, 12 noon

Sat., Aug. 17 Washington Spirit, 7:30 p.m.

Sun., Aug. 25 Chicago Red Stars, 12 noon

Fri., Sept. 6 @ Utah Royals FC, 6:30 p.m.

Wed., Sept. 11 North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Sept. 21 Houston Dash, 7:30 p.m.

Sun., Sept. 29 @ Reign FC, 1 p.m.

Sat., Oct. 12 Washington Spirit, 7:30 p.m.