The 2013 Revs Schedule Breakdown

Stealing a great idea from the guys over at the Red Bulls blog Once a Metro, and building on Matty's piece, we further break down what the 2013 New England Revolution season will look like, by category.

Field Surface
Grass: 14, Turf: 20

This year, 59% of games will be played on turf. It's a never-ending debate how much it affects certain players when having to switch from turf to grass every week. The Revs will have two separate stretches where they will play four games in a row on turf. Other than this, they will never play on one type of surface for more than two consecutive games.

TV Network
CSNNE: 32, NBCSN, 2 (at Chicago, vs LA Galaxy)

The Revs are once again not national TV darlings this year. In 2012, the Revs had three games on the NBC Sports Network, and none of these were at Gillette. This year we drop to two games, the silver lining being the Sunday 6/2 game against the LA Galaxy at home. Prepare the tifo!

Conference
25 vs East, 9 vs West

Nearly 74% of this season's game will be against Eastern Conference clubs as MLS continues its weighted schedule, placing added emphasis on conference games. September and October will feature games against Eastern Conference clubs exclusively. If you get hot in September or October you can make a serious playoff run.

Match Day
Less midweek games will translate into higher attendance numbers

Sunday: 4 - at home against the Galaxy, Toronto, and Philly; and away to Columbus
Wednesday: 2 - at home against RSL and away to Colorado
Thursday: 1 - at Portland Timbers
Friday: 1 - at Toronto FC
Saturday: 26 - 76% of home and away games fall on a Saturday

Time Zone
74% of the Revs games will be played in the Eastern time zone. This is always good news as we've been awful out West the last few years.

Eastern: 25
Central: 4 - at Houston, KC and Chicago twice
Mountain: 1 - at Colorado Rapids
Pacific: 4 - at Seattle, Portland, Vancouver and ChivasUSA

Month
The Revs are busiest in May and August with five and six matches, respectively. May should also see US Open Cup matches, forcing the Revs to go deep into the depth charts.

March - 4 (two at home)
April - 3 (one at home)
May - 5 (three at home)
June - 4 (two at home)
July - 4 (two at home)
August - 6 (three at home)
September - 4 (two at home)
October - 4 (one at home)

Start Time
44% of this year's matches will start at 7:30PM. Three home fixtures will be at 4PM. (3/23 Opener vs SKC, 3/30 vs FCD and 6/2 vs LA Galaxy)

4:00PM - 5
7:00PM - 3
7:30PM - 15
8:00PM - 1
8:30PM - 3
9:00PM - 1
TBA - 4 (classic MLS)

Conclusion

The dreaded Wednesday - Saturday block, which always seems to happen in early May, strikes again. The Revs will play three matches between 5/2 and 5/11. Coupled with possible US Open Cup matches, this could be a problem.

September and October will be huge. The 2012 LA Galaxy showed last year what getting hot at the right time can do. Maintaining fitness and mitigating injury and fatigue will be vital to the Revs in this stretch.

What do you think of this year's schedule? Share below in the comments section.

Follow @theIndirectKick