The Galaxy will open their 2024 MLS season by hosting Lionel Messi and Inter Miami at Dignity Health Sports Park on Feb. 25, kicking off a 34-game regular-season schedule that will include a return to the Rose Bowl on July 4 to face cross-town rival LAFC.
This year’s Rose Bowl rivalry game drew an MLS-record crowd of 82,110 and Tom Braun, the Galaxy’s chief operating officer and president of business operations, said the team is hopeful the match, which is followed by a fireworks show, can become a regular fixture of the schedule going forward.
“I think everyone can agree the success we had last year with the Rose Bowl game, it’s worth doing it again,” he said. “It’s good for soccer. It was good for the Galaxy. I think it was good for LAFC.
“It’s worth giving it a shot. And depending on how well it goes this year, it’s definitely in the cards.”
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Because of the league’s unbalanced schedule — MLS has 14 teams in the Western Conference and 15 in the Eastern Conference — the Galaxy will play LAFC three times. Each team will host one game, with the third to be played at the Rose Bowl, a neutral site though the game will count as a Galaxy home match.
“To make it successful, both teams have to really lean into it right?” Braun said. “It’s a lot of tickets to sell. We want LAFC’s fan base to be strong there. We want the Galaxy’s fan base to be strong there for the overall experience. So there is a partnership that goes into it. But it’s a Galaxy home game.”
The other two rivalry matches in the season series will be played April 6 at BMO Stadium and Sept. 14 at Dignity Health Sports Park. The Galaxy will also face the San Jose Earthquakes three times: in San Jose on March 2, in Carson on April 21 and at Stanford Stadium on June 29.
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Braun said the team worked with the league to secure the Messi game as the Galaxy’s home opener. Inter Miami, which entered MLS in 2020, has never played at Dignity Health Sports Park, where a statue of its owner, former Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, towers outside the main entrance.
“We pushed hard and lobbied for it,” Braun…