Rochester, MI (May 8, 2007)- The 2006 North American Champion Michigan Bucks HOME schedule this year covers more ground than most team’s away schedules. The Bucks have decided to bring their top notch product to all parts of metro Detroit- and beyond. This year’s home schedule includes the “Celebrate a Championship” opener on Friday, May 18 at 8:00 PM at Troy Athens High School against the Cleveland Internationals. Tickets for the opener are $10 Adults and $5 Youth (under 16). Last year’s champs then jump right into the fire with a US Open Cup match against their annual powerhouse rival Chicago Fire Premier on Saturday, May 26 at 6:30 at Independence Park as part of the annual Canton Cup celebration. If that isn’t enough great soccer for you in the first two weeks of the season, Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew come back to Detroit to take on the Bucks at Berkley’s Hurley Field on Wednesday, May 30 at 7:30. Tickets for the Crew’s match against their minor league affiliate Bucks are $15 at the gate (all ages-5 under always free), but will go on presale Monday, May 14 for just $10 each. The $5 savings per ticket will apply to all tickets purchased at one of the Bucks local outlets or on their web site. Details to follow this weekend.

The Bucks will continue to travel their home schedule this year with visits to Saline, Rochester, Bloomfield Hills, Lake Orion and back home to where it all began twelve years ago in Saginaw. According to Bucks first year GM, Dave Morgan, “the only complaint I have ever heard about the Bucks this past year was that all the games were way out in a difficult area to get to (mainly traffic and road construction). We decided to give up the comfort of having one home for the season as we had at Stoney Creek High School, to visit our loyal fans. There will be no Bucks fan in the state that does not have a great opportunity to see the North American Champions in action.”

Looking over a very difficult Bucks schedule this year, Bucks owner Dan Duggan points out a couple of very special dates on the calendar. "There is no doubt that Bucks fans will not want to miss the Championship ceremony on May 18 at the opener or the epic battle of (arguably) the top two PDL franchises in history when we take on Chicago for that precious Open Cup berth. If one team would lose that game, their 2007 US Open Cup hopes would surely be done.” Continued Duggan, “most Bucks fans look at this schedule and the Crew game on May 30 jumps out- and it will be another huge crowd at Hurley Field; but the two games that will really leave a special mark on our players will be our return to Saginaw on June 23 so we can celebrate last year’s championship where this whole great tradition began in 1996 and our final “home game” where we will play the Ft. Wayne Fever at Columbus Crew Stadium on Sunday July 22 at 1:00 prior to the MLS Crew/ Toronto FC match. I have no idea how this team will fare this year, but I can promise you that all our players and fans will get the opportunity to see what world class soccer! is like from Mid Michigan all the way to Columbus, Ohio.”

The Bucks “flex” schedule was the creation of former Bucks co-owner and general manager Jim Duggan, who used the idea over a decade ago to help build the legend of Bucks soccer in every part of the state. This will probably be the last year the Bucks will use such a schedule, as they continue to work on finding a permanent home in a central location of metro Detroit. The Bucks have also received enormous support from various youth soccer groups throughout the region, who have helped to make the flex schedule work for everyone. The Bucks opened training camp this past week and have the last half of their players reporting from out of state by this weekend. Although the roster cannot officially be released until this Friday, Dan Duggan did imply that this year’s talent was superior to that which they opened camp with a year ago. The Bucks will release the roster information along with further details on ticket information for the upcoming May home games later this week.