FC Cincinnati’s regular season hasn’t been cemented yet, but in the meantime, the team’s just-announced preseason match-ups should give soccer fans something to cheer about.
Cincinnati’s Major League Soccer team released its 2021 preseason schedule on March 3, noting that additional opponents may be added.
FC Cincinnati has four preseason matches scheduled at the moment. The first will be a closed-door match on March 13 at the Mercy Health Training Center in Milford. The opponent for that match has not yet been announced.
The team then will travel to Orlando for three games at the ChampionsGate Sports Field Complex. On March 27, Cincinnati will take on Chicago Fire FC, followed by a match against Orlando City SC on March 31. The team will wrap up with a game against Minnesota United FC on April 3 before returning to Cincinnati.
Regular-season MLS play for 2021 is scheduled to open April 17 across the league. Season tickets are on sale now.
FC Cincinnati players began voluntary training on March 1 and kicked off a mandatory seven-day quarantine period due to the coronavirus. Training for all players begins March 8.
FC Cincinnati and other regional sports teams are preparing to have actual fans in seats, with Gov. Mike DeWine loosening COVID-19 protocols with the recent drop in statewide cases and hospitalizations.
During a Feb. 25 briefing, the governor announced that outdoor events within the state — including those held in sports venues — would be capped at 30% capacity. Previously, Ohio had limited in-person attendance at sports events to 15% or 1,500 fans, whichever was fewer. Some teams had requested and had been granted variances that allowed for a higher attendance.
For FC Cincinnati’s West End Stadium, 30% of the stadium’s 26,000 capacity would be 7,800 fans.
According to Ohio’s new regulations, fans must be grouped into pods of six, with DeWine recommending that those pods be made up of people from within a single household. Pods will be separated by at least six feet. General, non-seated admission will be permitted only if masks are worn and if six-foot distancing can be maintained.
For the looser restrictions to continue, all venues — both indoor and outdoor — must follow established precautions such as mandatory mask wearing for employees and customers as well as social distancing.
DeWine also stressed that COVID-19 numbers must continue to fall for the reduced protocols to stay in place.
“The vaccines have given us great hope, but until we have enough Ohioans vaccinated, we must continue masking and social distancing,” DeWine says. “Easing up on some prevention measures is intended to serve as a starting point. If the trajectory of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continues downward, we hope to be able to relax more of these measures. If it gets worse, we may have to tighten up.”
This article appears in Best Of Cincinnati 2021.
