diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/KestrelServer.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/KestrelServer.cs
index 50b873c265..1770678b29 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/KestrelServer.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/KestrelServer.cs
@@ -107,81 +107,74 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel
                 foreach (var address in _serverAddresses.Addresses.ToArray())
                 {
                     var parsedAddress = ServerAddress.FromUrl(address);
-                    if (parsedAddress == null)
+                    atLeastOneListener = true;
+
+                    if (!parsedAddress.Host.Equals("localhost", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
                     {
-                        throw new FormatException("Unrecognized listening address: " + address);
+                        _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(
+                            parsedAddress));
                     }
                     else
                     {
-                        atLeastOneListener = true;
-
-                        if (!parsedAddress.Host.Equals("localhost", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+                        if (parsedAddress.Port == 0)
                         {
-                            _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(
-                                parsedAddress));
+                            throw new InvalidOperationException("Dynamic port binding is not supported when binding to localhost. You must either bind to 127.0.0.1:0 or [::1]:0, or both.");
                         }
-                        else
+
+                        var ipv4Address = parsedAddress.WithHost("127.0.0.1");
+                        var exceptions = new List<UvException>();
+
+                        try
                         {
-                            if (parsedAddress.Port == 0)
+                            _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(ipv4Address));
+                        }
+                        catch (AggregateException ex)
+                        {
+                            var uvException = ex.InnerException as UvException;
+
+                            if (uvException != null && uvException.StatusCode != Constants.EADDRINUSE)
                             {
-                                throw new InvalidOperationException("Dynamic port binding is not supported when binding to localhost. You must either bind to 127.0.0.1:0 or [::1]:0, or both.");
+                                _logger.LogWarning(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on the IPv4 loopback interface.");
+                                exceptions.Add(uvException);
                             }
-
-                            var ipv4Address = parsedAddress.WithHost("127.0.0.1");
-                            var exceptions = new List<UvException>();
-
-                            try
+                            else
                             {
-                                _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(ipv4Address));
-                            }
-                            catch (AggregateException ex)
-                            {
-                                var uvException = ex.InnerException as UvException;
-
-                                if (uvException != null && uvException.StatusCode != Constants.EADDRINUSE)
-                                {
-                                    _logger.LogWarning(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on the IPv4 loopback interface.");
-                                    exceptions.Add(uvException);
-                                }
-                                else
-                                {
-                                    throw;
-                                }
-                            }
-
-                            var ipv6Address = parsedAddress.WithHost("[::1]");
-
-                            try
-                            {
-                                _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(ipv6Address));
-                            }
-                            catch (AggregateException ex)
-                            {
-                                var uvException = ex.InnerException as UvException;
-
-                                if (uvException != null && uvException.StatusCode != Constants.EADDRINUSE)
-                                {
-                                    _logger.LogWarning(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on the IPv6 loopback interface.");
-                                    exceptions.Add(uvException);
-                                }
-                                else
-                                {
-                                    throw;
-                                }
-                            }
-
-                            if (exceptions.Count == 2)
-                            {
-                                var ex = new AggregateException(exceptions);
-                                _logger.LogError(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on any loopback interface.");
-                                throw ex;
+                                throw;
                             }
                         }
 
-                        // If requested port was "0", replace with assigned dynamic port.
-                        _serverAddresses.Addresses.Remove(address);
-                        _serverAddresses.Addresses.Add(parsedAddress.ToString());
+                        var ipv6Address = parsedAddress.WithHost("[::1]");
+
+                        try
+                        {
+                            _disposables.Push(engine.CreateServer(ipv6Address));
+                        }
+                        catch (AggregateException ex)
+                        {
+                            var uvException = ex.InnerException as UvException;
+
+                            if (uvException != null && uvException.StatusCode != Constants.EADDRINUSE)
+                            {
+                                _logger.LogWarning(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on the IPv6 loopback interface.");
+                                exceptions.Add(uvException);
+                            }
+                            else
+                            {
+                                throw;
+                            }
+                        }
+
+                        if (exceptions.Count == 2)
+                        {
+                            var ex = new AggregateException(exceptions);
+                            _logger.LogError(0, ex, $"Unable to bind to {parsedAddress.ToString()} on any loopback interface.");
+                            throw ex;
+                        }
                     }
+
+                    // If requested port was "0", replace with assigned dynamic port.
+                    _serverAddresses.Addresses.Remove(address);
+                    _serverAddresses.Addresses.Add(parsedAddress.ToString());
                 }
 
                 if (!atLeastOneListener)
diff --git a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/ServerAddress.cs b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/ServerAddress.cs
index 528a39edb8..8f7b19c634 100644
--- a/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/ServerAddress.cs
+++ b/src/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel/ServerAddress.cs
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.Kestrel
             int schemeDelimiterStart = url.IndexOf("://", StringComparison.Ordinal);
             if (schemeDelimiterStart < 0)
             {
-                return null;
+                throw new FormatException($"Invalid URL: {url}");
             }
             int schemeDelimiterEnd = schemeDelimiterStart + "://".Length;
 
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/KestrelServerTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/KestrelServerTests.cs
index 7db58f52a6..f83e6bcc0a 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/KestrelServerTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/KestrelServerTests.cs
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests
 
             var exception = Assert.Throws<FormatException>(() => StartDummyApplication(server));
 
-            Assert.Contains("Unrecognized listening address", exception.Message);
+            Assert.Contains("Invalid URL", exception.Message);
         }
 
         [Fact]
diff --git a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/ServerAddressTests.cs b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/ServerAddressTests.cs
index 50c96cc9c4..9e113d7978 100644
--- a/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/ServerAddressTests.cs
+++ b/test/Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests/ServerAddressTests.cs
@@ -14,9 +14,9 @@ namespace Microsoft.AspNetCore.Server.KestrelTests
         [InlineData("")]
         [InlineData("5000")]
         [InlineData("//noscheme")]
-        public void FromUriReturnsNullForSchemelessUrls(string url)
+        public void FromUriThrowsForSchemelessUrls(string url)
         {
-            Assert.Null(ServerAddress.FromUrl(url));
+            Assert.Throws<FormatException>(() => ServerAddress.FromUrl(url));
         }
 
         [Theory]