Real Salt Lake

In the past week, the Portland Timbers signed Scottish Premier League all-time scoring leader Kris Boyd, the Vancouver Whitecaps traded for former MLS Best XI forward Sebastien Le Toux and the Los Angeles Galaxy brought back 2010 MLS Golden Boot runner-up Edson Buddle.

That's a lot of firepower clustered within the Western Conference of Major League Soccer.

While Real Salt Lake's 2012 campaign didn't officially start until this morning, the Claret-and-Cobalt have already made their first major splash of the season.

On Tuesday, RSL unveiled a new multi-year television broadcast partnership with KTVX that will showcase Real across the Beehive State like never before.

RSL and KTVX, along with KTVX-operated KUCW, will show 30 of Real Salt Lake's 34 regular season matches in full high-definition. The remaining four matches will be shown via national broadcast.

NEW YORK -- St. Louis Blues and Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts has been hired as chief executive officer of Legends Hospitality Management, the company owned by the New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys and Goldman Sachs.

Checketts Partners Investment Fund has bought the equity in Legends that had been owned by CIC Partners, Legends said Wednesday. Mike Rawlings of CIC Partners, who had been Legends' CEO, became mayor of Dallas last summer.

Checketts is a former CEO of Madison Square Garden.

Legends provides catering and concessions for the Yankees and Cowboys, the Circle Line boat. It is marketing luxury seating for the Rose Bowl and the San Francisco 49ers planned new stadium.

SANDY -- Major League Soccer will have its longest season this year, with the final played Dec. 1.

The league announced in November that its 17th season will start March 10, five days earlier than in 2011. Last year's final was Nov. 20.

With the expansion Montreal Impact giving the league 19 teams, MLS is switching to an unbalanced schedule while keeping the regular season at 34 games per team.

Just seven games conflict with FIFA fixture dates, when many star players are away with national teams: Chicago at New England (June 1); Los Angeles at Columbus; Portland at Toronto and Houston at Vancouver (Aug. 15); Portland at Colorado (Sept. 5); Salt Lake at Houston (Sept. 6); and Chivas USA at Seattle (Sept. 8).

About 83 percent of games are on weekends and holidays, and all 323 games will be televised live.

A record nine games are scheduled for April 28.

Real Salt Lake learned the 34-game slate that will mark its eighth season of MLS play. Real Salt Lake will begin the upcoming season on March 10, where its last campaign ended - The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. - with a Western Conference Championship rematch against the defending MLS Cup champion LA Galaxy, with kickoff slated for 8:30 p.m.

The 32-year-old Russell appeared in 78 games, including 68 starts, over four seasons with Real Salt Lake. This season, he had two assists in 26 games in the regular season, plus three starts in the playoffs.

He scored the penalty kick that ended the shootout when RSL won the 2009 MLS Cup.

CARSON, Calif. -- As confetti and fireworks rained down on a chilly Home Depot Center on Sunday night, marking the Galaxy's 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer's Western Conference final, Robbie Keane stepped atop a hastily constructed platform at midfield, taking his place alongside Landon Donovan and David Beckham.

That's the way the Galaxy envisioned things would be when Keane joined the team in mid-August on a transfer from Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League: Keane, Donovan and Beckham standing head and shoulders above their teammates and leading the way to a league title.

CARSON, Calif. -- Mike Magee scored the go-ahead goal on a pass from David Beckham in the 58th minute, and Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane also scored as the Los Angeles Galaxy advanced to the MLS Cup with a 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Sunday night in the Western Conference final.

With spectacular plays from their trio of superstars, Los Angeles advanced to face the Houston Dynamo in the MLS title game Nov. 20 at Home Depot Center, where the Supporters' Shield-winning Galaxy haven't lost all year.