Inter Miami‘s Major League Soccer season opener against New York City FC will now be played on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. ET at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after originally being scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. ET.
The decision to delay the game by five hours comes due to the postponement of the Concacaf Champions Cup match between Inter Miami and Sporting Kansas City.
The two teams were set to face each other on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET in Kansas City, but the regional governing body moved the match to Wednesday given the severe weather conditions around the city.
Multiple weather reports issued a winter storm warning, stating that the city of Kansas could see anywhere between five to seven inches of snow with a predicted temperature of five degrees Fahrenheit.
The first leg of the first round CCC match will now be played on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET with a predicted temperature of three to five degrees Fahrenheit and cloudy conditions.
“The decision to reschedule the match has been made to prioritize player and fan safety, and in close coordination with the two participating clubs and the local authorities,” Concacaf said in a statement.
New Inter Miami manager Javier Mascherano revealed in the pre-match news conference that both teams were in agreement over the need to move the match to a different date given the difficulty of playing in harsh conditions.
“It’s not just a matter of the game, if the snow falls like they say is going to fall, we believe that the city is going to completely collapse, so people won’t be able to go to the field, the accesses may be closed. Many times you only think about the game itself and not everything that surrounds it,” Mascherano said on Monday.
Sporting Kansas City’s MLS season opener against Austin FC at Q2 Stadium is set to be played at 9:30 p.m. ET, and not expected to be delayed or postponed due to the Concacaf Champions Cup match.
