Major League Soccer has unveiled the schedule for the MLS is Back Tournament, set to begin on Wednesday, July 8 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Lions’ schedule presented by Orlando Health, complete with match times and broadcast information, can be found at the link here.
As previously announced, the Lions will take on their neighbors to the south in Inter Miami CF on Wednesday, July 8 to open the tournament. Kickoff is slated for 8 p.m. ET with the match set to be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and TSN.
Six days later, City will turn its attention to 2015 expansion rivals New York City FC on Tuesday, July 14 at 10:30 p.m. ET (TUDN/TSN) before closing out the group stage on Monday, July 20 at 9 a.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/TSN) against expansion side Nashville SC, who have been moved to the Eastern Conference for the remainder of the 2020 MLS season.
As the tournament hosts, the Lions have been seeded atop Group A, the lone group in the tournament comprising six teams - Orlando City SC, Inter Miami CF, Chicago Fire FC, Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC and New York City FC. Due to the larger group, MLS has announced that the top three finishers in Group A will advance to the Knockout Stage presented by Audi, along with the top two teams from the other five groups and the three best third-place finishers.
The Group Stage presented by Heineken will consist of 16 consecutive days of games with each MLS club playing three matches against teams within their drawn groups. All group stage match results will count in the 2020 MLS regular season standings, as well as toward qualification to the MLS is Back Tournament Knockout Stage presented by Audi. After the group stage, the Knockout Stage will begin, set to include a Round-of-16 played as doubleheaders on four consecutive evenings (July 25-28), followed by the Quarterfinals (July 30-Aug 1), Semifinals (Aug. 5-6) and the MLS is Back Tournament Final on August 11 at 8 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN Deportes/TSN).
The tournament champion will earn a spot in the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League.