CONCACAF has announced that all its 2015 marketing bonuses have come at once the playoff between USMNT and Mexico for the region's 2017 Confederations Cup berth will be played on October 10.
The match will be staged at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Kick-off is scheduled for 6:00 pm, Pacific time (9:00 pm Eastern). The confederation is very keen to let it be known that it had originally scheduled the game for October 9 - a Friday. Now CONCACAF's jamboree rivalry match will take place on a Saturday, allowing for maximum hype a Futbol Fiesta outside the stadium: "a free, interactive fan zone" says the press release, between gasps at the sheer magnitude of the event.
You will recall this match is necessitated by CONCACAF's not-silly decision to make Gold Cups a little more interesting: the winners of the 2013 tournament (USA) and the 2015 edition (Mexico) must play for the right to represent the region in the 2017 Confederations Cup in Russia. The Confederations Cup is effectively a warm-up gig for the World Cup, allowing those teams selected (traditionally the champion of each confederation, the winner of the last World Cup and the host of the next one) to familiarize themselves with conditions, since the tournament is now usually held in the country that will stage the next World Cup. So there is some small advantage to be gained by playing in Confederations Cup.
From the perspective of the New York Red Bulls, the timing of the match is interesting. RBNY does not have a match scheduled for the weekend of October 9-11, nor does the team have any players currently regarded as high on USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann's list of favorites. But RBNY will play Montreal Impact at home on October 7 and Toronto FC in Toronto on October 14.
There is a FIFA window for international matches from October 5 to 13, so clubs are required to allow players called up for national team duty to play for their respective countries. Under normal circumstances, one might expect Klinsmann to go easy on MLS teams (by not summoning their US national teamers for October internationals) , who will be involved in the final stages of the MLS regular season - but the Confederations Cup playoff is a competitive match which will directly affect USMNT's preparations for the 2018 World Cup. Klinsmann certainly ought to try to win it, and that would suggest he ought to call up his best players.
Toronto has no games scheduled between October 3 and 14, but can be expected to be asked to send Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley to California, unless they are injured. TFC probably isn't too concerned about losing any individual player not named Sebastian Giovinco - but RBNY will note the likelihood that the Reds' all-star supporting cast might be a little heavy-legged by October 14, if required to trek to California for a competitive and important international on October 10.