Union-LAFC: Game time, channel, how to watch and stream MLS Cup final

The day Union fans have been dreaming of for more than a dozen years is finally here: the team’s first appearance in the MLS championship game. Dániel Gazdag, Andre Blake and company face star-studded Los Angeles FC at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday afternoon. It’s the first MLS Cup final with the Eastern and Western Conferences’ No. 1 seeds in 19 years, and both teams are aiming for their first championship.

Here’s what to know about how to watch the game.

It’s a national broadcast on Fox in English and Univision in Spanish, meaning you can watch the game on free over-the-air TV in either language. Univision’s coverage will be simulcast on its cable sports channel TUDN.

On Fox, John Strong will call the play-by-play with analyst Stuart Holden, just over two weeks before serving as the network’s top broadcast team at the World Cup. Kyndra de St. Aubin will be the sideline reporter.

Rodolfo Landeros will host studio coverage from the stadium with Holden, former Union captain Maurice Edu and Rutgers alum Alexi Lalas. Rob Stone is usually Fox’s soccer host, but he’s on college football duty.

On Univision, Luis Omar Tapia and Ramses Sandoval will call the play-by-play for a half each. Doing it that way is the network’s tradition. Diego Balado and former U.S. national team star Marcelo Balboa will be the color analyst, Michele Giannone will be the sideline reporter, and Alejandro Berry will host studio coverage from the stadium.

» READ MORE: The Union and LAFC bring out the best in each other. Now they’re playing for a championship.

Lalas is famously a big talker. He enjoys hyping up MLS’s richest clubs, and scolding teams that don’t live up to what they should be.

So we had to ask him: Which team will get the bigger scolding if it loses, the Union for not having a star or LAFC for having so many of them?

“It would be LAFC,” he answered. “But I would rather a team like LAFC that spends a lot of money, and that advances the league with the things that they do, be rewarded for that.”

That doesn’t mean Lalas dislikes the Union. In fact, he thinks quite highly of them.

“They are on par with LAFC,” he said. “They have got that chip on their shoulder and they’re leaning into the David-next-to-the-Goliath and all that. How good are they? I do think that whoever wins this game on Sunday actually has a debatable and arguable, but legitimate, argument as to being the best single-season team in MLS history.”

4:05 p.m. Eastern, 1:05 p.m. local time in Los Angeles.

Fox’s pregame coverage will start at 3:30 p.m., or later if the noon Texas Tech-TCU college football game runs long. (That’s where Stone will be, hosting Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff show).

Univision’s coverage will start at 3 p.m. on TUDN and 3:30 p.m. on the broadcast network, and there’s two hours of postgame coverage on TUDN.

» READ MORE: Jim Curtin knew the Union could be good this year. He didn’t think they’d be this good.

Fox’s live streaming is available through FoxSports.com with authentication through participating TV providers, or through the streaming apps of those providers. Streaming TV sites that have FS1 include fuboTV, YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and DirecTV Stream.

Univision’s live streaming is available through TUDN.com, with authentication or through a paid subscription for $9.99 per month. Most of the same streaming TV sites listed above also have the broadcast network.

Yes, but not on traditional radio. The MLS Cup radio rights are separate from all other games, and they’re held by SiriusXM. Joe Tolleson, Tony Meola and Keith Costigan will have the call. Their coverage starts at 3:30.

The Union will have their own audio broadcast streaming through the team’s website. JP Dellacamera and Danny Higginbotham will reunite a few weeks after calling their last local TV broadcast together.

» READ MORE: JP Dellacamera says farewell after 13 years as the Union's lead TV play-by-play broadcaster

It’s tough to tell as of now, but the word on social media was that there will be an organized section of around 500 fans. All 22,000 seats at the stadium were gone within seconds of sales starting.

The team will have four official watch parties, all free of charge (before buying food and drinks, of course). The biggest will be at Subaru Park. Others will be at Xfinity! Live in the Sports Complex (1100 Pattison Ave.), Chickie’s & Pete’s in Malvern (10 Liberty Blvd., Suite 190), and P.J. Whelihan’s in Downingtown (853 E. Lancaster Ave.)

If you want to go to the Subaru Park watch party, you have to get a free ticket through the Union’s website.

» READ MORE: Here’s where to watch the Union take on LAFC in Saturday’s MLS Cup final

— Winger Gareth Bale is the biggest name. The 33-year-old is a former star of Real Madrid, where he won five UEFA Champions League titles and three La Liga titles; and Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League. He joined LAFC this summer and hasn’t played much, in part because of a leg injury suffered last month. But he still plays for Wales’ national team, which is the United States’ first opponent at the World Cup on Nov. 20.

— Forward Carlos Vela is the second-biggest name, and he’s No. 1 for L.A.’s huge Mexican immigrant population. He’s got 12 goals and 12 assists this year, prompting a wave of calls to bring him back to Mexico’s national team for the first time since the 2018 World Cup. But he has said repeatedly that he doesn’t want it.

— Centerback Giorgio Chiellini was another of the Black-and-Gold’s summer splashes. One of Italy’s all-time great defenders, he won last year’s European championship with the Azzurri and won nine Serie A titles with Juventus. The 38-year-old arrived in MLS to skepticism, but has done better than expected in 11 appearances.

— Forward Denis Bouanga joined from former French giant Saint-Étienne this summer for a $5.5 million transfer fee. He has just three goals in nine games, but they’re all big: the Supporters’ Shield-clinching goal at Portland, and two in the playoffs against the rival L.A. Galaxy.

» READ MORE: Don Garber backs off reports that MLS is looking at changing its playoff format

— Midfielder Cristian Tello grew up in the youth academy of Spanish superpower Barcelona. He played professionally there and at Fiorentina and Real Betis. Though he’s earning a $1.73 million salary this year, he has played just 94 minutes over four games.

— Forward Cristian Arango is the player Union fans should really worry about. LAFC’s top scorer this year has 21 goals and four assists.

— Kellyn Acosta, José Cifuentes and Ilie Sánchez are the top midfield trio. Acosta will be on the U.S. World Cup team, Cifuentes is an underrated stalwart, and a lot of people think Sánchez should have made MLS’s Best XI for this season.

— “We’re not fun to play against,” Union manager Jim Curtin says.

— Curtin played in the last MLS Cup final between No. 1 seeds, 19 years ago.

— Union midfielder Alejandro Bedoya won MLS’s Humanitarian of the Year award for his advocacy for gun control.

— Jonathan Tannenwald talks with Union original player Jordan Harvey, who spent the last years of his career with LAFC and still works for the team.

— And he talks with Union sporting director Ernst Tanner, who built the team that has reached the title game.

— Marcus Hayes profiles Tanner’s life beyond the pitch.

— Mike Jensen chats with Curtin’s close friend Chris Albright about what makes the Union manager so good.

— Kerith Gabriel hears from some longtime Union fans who are celebrating the team’s success.

— Predictions for the game from our soccer staff.

W1. Los Angeles FC vs. E1. Union (Sunday, 4:05 p.m., Fox29, Univision 65 and TUDN): Los Angeles -135, Union +290, tie in regulation +280

» READ MORE: MLS Cup odds: Sizing up Union vs. LAFC