The Colorado Rapids announced today that they will play their earliest ever home opener since the formation of Major League Soccer, with the 2012 season beginning at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on March 10th, 2012.

The opponent and time have not been released yet, though the odds are good that we'll be seeing a Western conference team on the opening day and that it will be a 6 or 7 PM start like Rapids games usually seem to be. The Rapids are 5-0-3 in their last eight home openers so at the very least we should be in for a treat as usual - if every Rapids game was either a home opener or a 4th of July game we'd have won a Supporters Shield by now, eh?

Hopefully this is a sign that the season will be a little bit longer and not just shifted a few days earlier in the year to avoid quite as much fixture congestion, which wasn't all that helpful to the Rapids last year. The season will still be 34 games despite the new conference based scheduling. Either way, get your calendars marked for March 10th and get ready for some football as the Rapids kick off their 17th season in MLS!



