Going back to Cali: Reading the tea leaves on the 2027 Coachella Valley Invitational invite
Austin FC announced that it will be playing the 2027 Coachella Valley Invitational — its fourth straight appearance at the tournament. Here's what we learned about that, and by extension, the sprint season.
Austin FC is, in the sage words of LL Cool J, going back to Cali.
Austin FC will participate in the 2027 Coachella Valley Invitational, the club and tournament organizers both announced Wednesday. It will be the fourth straight year that Verde take part in the preseason tournament at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif.
Verde will be one of 11 MLS teams at the event; eight NWSL teams will also play, with Saturday, Feb. 6 billed as a joint MLS-NWSL experience.
The other 10 MLS teams journeying to Palm Springs include:
Charlotte FC
D.C. United
LAFC
LA Galaxy
Minnesota United FC
Portland Timbers
San Diego FC
San Jose Earthquakes
St. Louis City SC
Toronto FC
The 2027 edition of the tournament comes jus tbefore MLS holds its 14-match "sprint season" from February through May, which per MLS' website, is a span of time "inclusive of the playoffs."
The future of the tournament as it exists remains unclear, as its place on the calendar would make it a midseason rather than a preseason tournament should it continue in 2028, as the league converts to a July-to-May calendar next summer. Holding a preseason tournament in June or early July in a desert just won't work.
Though details are scant about the schedule, there's enough shared about the five Southern California teams participating to make some educated guesses about the sprint season schedule as well as what Verde's 2027 Coachella trip might look like.
Austin FC plays the 2024 edition of Coachella (Phil West)
Reading the tea leaves
The first day of the tournament, Saturday, Jan. 30, looks to be the exclusive domain of NWSL, likely with four matches throughout the day split between two side-by-side fields separated by bleachers, should the tournament hold to past years' footprints. (That includes Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC playing opponents to be named later.)
Then, on Saturday, Feb. 6, organizers promise teams from each league, with San Diego FC playing a match against a yet-to-be-named opponent. Language on the Coachella site says that the tournament will have "up to five matches a day," so four NWSL matches and one MLS match on that day seems a reasonable interpretation.
On Sunday, Feb. 7, LA Galaxy and LAFC enter the tournament, and on Wednesday, Feb. 10, all three MLS SoCal teams will play. On Saturday, Feb. 13, LAFC and SDFC play the tournament's final day – which means that, with the Galaxy only playing two matches, this could be a five MLS match day to close out the tournament.
There's a one-in-10 chance that Austin gets assigned to play San Diego on the 6th. It's more likely, however, to be a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday cadence for Verde's three matches. Given that the team will likely want a few days to acclimate to the desert (which, as a 2024 attendee, I can tell you is pretty spectacular), expect them to bond with relatively newly arrived head coach Jim Curtin for about a 10-to-12-day trip.
Also, assuming that CVI organizers coordinated with MLS on their dates, CVI going through Feb. 13 likely means that the sprint season starts on Saturday, Feb. 20, with perhaps one midweek teaser the Wednesday before involving teams who didn't play a match on Feb. 13.
If you count out 14 Saturdays starting with Feb. 20 (Reader: I did), the 14th Saturday is May 24. If the sprint season and playoffs fit into a tidy February-to-May box as MLS is promising, there's no way to make that work, sacrificing as much February as the league seems to be, without bringing in midweek matches.
There's also a FIFA international break going from Monday, March 22 to Tuesday, March 30. International breaks haven't stopped MLS before from doing what they want, but given that each match in the sprint season is around 7% of it rather than 3% of it, I presume that the weekend of March 27-28 won't have MLS matches.
(As fun as I would find it to be an MLS schedule maker, to get insights into my specific brand of nerdery, I do not envy the MLS schedule makers trying to fashion a sprint season schedule resulting in minimum complaint.)
If you go
First off, I highly recommend the Coachella experience. You can get even closer to in-game action than you can watching Austin FC II at Parmer Field, and you're in an incredible setting with hardcore soccer fans from a number of different fan bases.
The year I went, I got to tell Timbers fans, "Sorry about your new head coach and new sponsor," which got sad nods that said, "You understand me," before I excused myself to say hi to Timber Joey. I thought of those fans when unexpectedly, several months into Bad Sponsorship, the deal was terminated and the Timbers ended up with an awesome cheese and ice cream sponsor instead. (The head coach ended up staying on into a third season.)
You can get food and drinks onsite; one of the promotional photos on the site has signs for two lines at the Fieldside Bar: Tacos and Cocktails. Those are my kind of lines, and I don't think I'm alone in that.
I will say, based on personal experience: Don't stay in Indio. The hotel options are not great, and though I'm not so fussy on soccer journalism trips, checking into the Super 8 I booked online gave me pause. Indio did have passable restaurants and its share of amenities, though, so if proximity is a priority, you can consider it.
You'll fly into Palm Springs, most likely, and though you can rideshare out to Indio, you're probably better off renting a car and navigating between better hotel options and the Empire Polo Grounds that way. (It's also a 30-minute drive from Indio to Joshua Tree, so consider that.)
You can also fly into Ontario (83 miles from Indio) if that's better on your travel budget, but in that case, you'll definitely want to rent a car, and you still want to get yourself into the vicinity of Palm Springs to establish your home base. Indio is also near the Salton Sea; Google that if you want to go down an incredible research rabbit hole that involves words like "toxic," and, as a bonus, learn what "endorheic" means.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Also, we're fully in the 21st century now; join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
Resiliency is the word of the day, as Austin FC rallied from a three-goal deficit to draw San Diego FC and stay in the playoff race. Despite an eight-match unbeaten streak, the postseason could hinge on beating MLS' best team.
Austin FC had a lockdown defense in the first half, was a sieve in the 28 minutes following, and somehow mounted a three-goal comeback to stretch its now-club-record unbeaten streak.
In this new feature celebrating the ways in which soccer entertains us, we look at a generational American talent, laud a creative endorsement deal, and talk about the number 114 and make a prediction about that.
Austin FC interim head coach Davy Arnaud admitted some players will be unavailable for Saturday's match against San Diego. That now includes one player we didn't know about when we talked Thursday.
Austin FC is, in the sage words of LL Cool J, going back to Cali.
Austin FC will participate in the 2027 Coachella Valley Invitational, the club and tournament organizers both announced Wednesday. It will be the fourth straight year that Verde take part in the preseason tournament at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif.
Verde will be one of 11 MLS teams at the event; eight NWSL teams will also play, with Saturday, Feb. 6 billed as a joint MLS-NWSL experience.
The other 10 MLS teams journeying to Palm Springs include:
The 2027 edition of the tournament comes jus tbefore MLS holds its 14-match "sprint season" from February through May, which per MLS' website, is a span of time "inclusive of the playoffs."
The future of the tournament as it exists remains unclear, as its place on the calendar would make it a midseason rather than a preseason tournament should it continue in 2028, as the league converts to a July-to-May calendar next summer. Holding a preseason tournament in June or early July in a desert just won't work.
Though details are scant about the schedule, there's enough shared about the five Southern California teams participating to make some educated guesses about the sprint season schedule as well as what Verde's 2027 Coachella trip might look like.
Reading the tea leaves
The first day of the tournament, Saturday, Jan. 30, looks to be the exclusive domain of NWSL, likely with four matches throughout the day split between two side-by-side fields separated by bleachers, should the tournament hold to past years' footprints. (That includes Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC playing opponents to be named later.)
Then, on Saturday, Feb. 6, organizers promise teams from each league, with San Diego FC playing a match against a yet-to-be-named opponent. Language on the Coachella site says that the tournament will have "up to five matches a day," so four NWSL matches and one MLS match on that day seems a reasonable interpretation.
On Sunday, Feb. 7, LA Galaxy and LAFC enter the tournament, and on Wednesday, Feb. 10, all three MLS SoCal teams will play. On Saturday, Feb. 13, LAFC and SDFC play the tournament's final day – which means that, with the Galaxy only playing two matches, this could be a five MLS match day to close out the tournament.
There's a one-in-10 chance that Austin gets assigned to play San Diego on the 6th. It's more likely, however, to be a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday cadence for Verde's three matches. Given that the team will likely want a few days to acclimate to the desert (which, as a 2024 attendee, I can tell you is pretty spectacular), expect them to bond with relatively newly arrived head coach Jim Curtin for about a 10-to-12-day trip.
Also, assuming that CVI organizers coordinated with MLS on their dates, CVI going through Feb. 13 likely means that the sprint season starts on Saturday, Feb. 20, with perhaps one midweek teaser the Wednesday before involving teams who didn't play a match on Feb. 13.
If you count out 14 Saturdays starting with Feb. 20 (Reader: I did), the 14th Saturday is May 24. If the sprint season and playoffs fit into a tidy February-to-May box as MLS is promising, there's no way to make that work, sacrificing as much February as the league seems to be, without bringing in midweek matches.
There's also a FIFA international break going from Monday, March 22 to Tuesday, March 30. International breaks haven't stopped MLS before from doing what they want, but given that each match in the sprint season is around 7% of it rather than 3% of it, I presume that the weekend of March 27-28 won't have MLS matches.
(As fun as I would find it to be an MLS schedule maker, to get insights into my specific brand of nerdery, I do not envy the MLS schedule makers trying to fashion a sprint season schedule resulting in minimum complaint.)
If you go
First off, I highly recommend the Coachella experience. You can get even closer to in-game action than you can watching Austin FC II at Parmer Field, and you're in an incredible setting with hardcore soccer fans from a number of different fan bases.
The year I went, I got to tell Timbers fans, "Sorry about your new head coach and new sponsor," which got sad nods that said, "You understand me," before I excused myself to say hi to Timber Joey. I thought of those fans when unexpectedly, several months into Bad Sponsorship, the deal was terminated and the Timbers ended up with an awesome cheese and ice cream sponsor instead. (The head coach ended up staying on into a third season.)
You can get food and drinks onsite; one of the promotional photos on the site has signs for two lines at the Fieldside Bar: Tacos and Cocktails. Those are my kind of lines, and I don't think I'm alone in that.
I will say, based on personal experience: Don't stay in Indio. The hotel options are not great, and though I'm not so fussy on soccer journalism trips, checking into the Super 8 I booked online gave me pause. Indio did have passable restaurants and its share of amenities, though, so if proximity is a priority, you can consider it.
You'll fly into Palm Springs, most likely, and though you can rideshare out to Indio, you're probably better off renting a car and navigating between better hotel options and the Empire Polo Grounds that way. (It's also a 30-minute drive from Indio to Joshua Tree, so consider that.)
You can also fly into Ontario (83 miles from Indio) if that's better on your travel budget, but in that case, you'll definitely want to rent a car, and you still want to get yourself into the vicinity of Palm Springs to establish your home base. Indio is also near the Salton Sea; Google that if you want to go down an incredible research rabbit hole that involves words like "toxic," and, as a bonus, learn what "endorheic" means.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Also, we're fully in the 21st century now; join us on Instagram to get updates on all our stories and podcast releases.
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