The inaugural Seattle Sounders FC game will be featured as Major League Soccer's opening date for the 2009 season, it was announced today. Sounders FC will host the New York Red Bulls on Thursday night, March 19. 
Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific Time at Qwest Field. Sounders FC will be making its debut as the 15th team in MLS. New York is the 2008 MLS Cup runner-up.

The complete MLS schedule will be released in early February. Each team will play a 30-game regular season. Each team will play every other MLS team home and away, for a base of 28 games. Two additional games against intra-conference rivals will complete each team's league schedule. The regular season ends on Oct. 25.