MLS moves start time for Miami-NYCFC season opener

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 due to severe weather conditions around the city.

Multiple winter storm warnings were issued, stating that Kansas City could see 5-7 inches of snow with temperatures as low as 5 degrees.

The first leg of the first round CCC match will now be played on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET with predicted temperatures of 3-5 degrees.

“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 prematch news conference that both teams agreed to change the date of the match 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 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 is not expected to be delayed or postponed due to the Concacaf Champions Cup match.