LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Coachella Valley Invitational will include nearly half of the teams in Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League as the preseason event continues to get bigger and bigger.
The three-week event will take place from Feb. 1-22 at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, which is also the site of the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals.
This will be the fourth year the 1,000-acre property outside Palm Springs has hosted preseason training and games for MLS teams. NWSL teams were added last year.
Kara Korber, AEG’s senior director of business development, said 20 teams is currently the capacity, but they are looking at possibly expanding if more infrastructure can be added.
The CVI has two fields set up with bleacher and premium seating where games can be played. Each team also gets two fields for practice, or to hold games without fans midway through the week.
“MLS is probably the only major American sports league that doesn’t have their own owned and operated preseason event. MLB has spring training, NFL has preseason camps and games and even NBA has the summer league. So for us to kind of take this event and run with it has been a huge success,” Korber said.
The invitational drew 25,000 fans last year. Up to 5,000 fans on the grounds are allowed each of the seven days public matches are scheduled. Teams will have at least two matches that fans can attend with the opportunity of scheduling additional closed matches midweek where teams can experiment more with substitutions or playing situations.
With spectators only 10-15 feet from the field, it also allows fans an up-close look as well as hearing what takes place during matches.
Defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy, which is owned by AEG, will again headline the event. MLS Cup finalist New York Red Bulls as well as conference finalists Seattle and NYCFC are also participating, as well as expansion club San Diego FC.
The other MLS teams taking part are Austin, Charlotte, Chicago, Kansas City, LAFC, Minnesota, Portland, Salt Lake, San Jose and St. Louis.
The NWSL teams participating are Angel City, Bay FC, Houston, Portland, San Diego and Seattle.
MLS matches will take place Feb. 1-15 with NWSL teams taking center stage the final week.
The CVI began in 2022 as preseason training for six MLS teams. It did not include fans the first year.
The event expanded to 12 MLS teams the past two years before expanding to 14 in 2025. There were four NWSL teams in 2024.
“The Coachella Valley Invitational has become a premier preseason event in global soccer, thanks to AEG’s expertise in producing world-class events,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said. “With state-of-the-art facilities, professional organization, and a unique environment, Coachella provides MLS clubs with a terrific opportunity to prepare for the upcoming season.”
AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer
