
USL Championship Unveils 2024 Regular Season Schedule
December 18, 2023 - United Soccer League Championship (USL) News Release
TAMPA, Fla. - The USL Championship today announced its 2024 schedule, with the league's 14th set to kick off on Saturday, March 9 with a nine-match slate. Each team willplay 34 matches in the quest for spots in the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs. The full 408-game regular season unfolds over 34 weeks and concludes on Oct. 26.
Great rivalries, rising stars, and compelling storylines have the USL Championship primed for a third straight year of attendance growth after drawing more than 2.3 million fans through the gates in 2023.
This year, expansion side Rhode Island FC embarks on its inaugural season as a club, led by Head Coach Khano Smith. North Carolina FC returns to the Championship after exercising its option to move up from USL League One, where the club played three seasons, including its 2023 title-winning campaign.
The USL also announced today that Rio Grande Valley FC has ceased operations. Founded in 2015 as a development team for MLS club Houston Dynamo FC, RGV FC was granted permission in 2021 to remain in the USL Championship, provided it continued to meet all league and federation requirements.
To maintain two 12-team conferences, Memphis 901 FC and FC Tulsa will move to the Western Conference this season. (See format & conference alignment below)
The 2024 USL Championship season will mark the first in the league's new historic four-year broadcast agreement with CBS Sports, through which USL Championship contests will air on network television for the first time. More details on the 2024 national broadcast schedule and broadcast partners will be announced in the coming weeks.
Among the early season marquee matches are:
March 9: North Carolina FCrekindles its rivalry with neighboringCharleston Battery, winners of the 2023 Eastern Conference crown.
March 9:2023 USL Championship title winner Phoenix Rising FCbegins its defenseagainst 2023 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinalist Birmingham Legion FC.
March 16: Rhode Island FC fans experience the club's historic debut asNew Mexico Unitedcomes to Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, R.I.
April 6: If you don't knowthe LIPAFC rivalry, just watch Louisville City FC vs. Indy Eleven - then you'll know.
The season will conclude with a full slate of 12 games on Saturday, October 26, which will feature a blockbuster interconference clash as Louisville City FC hosts Phoenix Rising FC at Lynn Family Stadium.Additionally on the final day of the regular season, the Tampa Bay Rowdies will play host to Indy Eleven and Sacramento Republic FC will face Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC in what could be crucial in-conference matchups.
SCHEDULE FORMAT ANDCONFERENCE ALIGNMENTS
The 2024 USL Championship season will see the league divided into an Eastern and Western Conference with 12 teams in each conference. Each club will play its fellow conference opponents in a home-and-home series for 22 games, and then play each of the 12 teams from the opposing conference - six games at home, six away - to make up the 34-game schedule.
2024 USL Championship Conference Alignment
Western Conference
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
El Paso Locomotive FC
Las Vegas Lights FC
Memphis 901 FC
Monterey Bay F.C.
New Mexico United
Oakland Roots SC
Orange County SC
Phoenix Rising FC
Sacramento Republic FC
San Antonio FC
FC Tulsa
Eastern Conference
Birmingham Legion FC
Charleston Battery
Detroit City FC
Hartford Athletic
Indy Eleven
Loudoun United FC
Louisville City FC
Miami FC
North Carolina FC
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
Rhode Island FC
Tampa Bay Rowdies
2024 USL Championship Playoffs
At the conclusion of the regular season, the top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the 2024 USL Championship Playoffs, which will kick off on the weekend of November 1-3, 2024.
The USL Championship Playoffs will remain a single-elimination format and a fixed bracket format. The postseason will culminate in the 2024 USL Championship Final on CBS on a to-be determined date between Nov. 21 and Nov. 25, 2024.
United Soccer League Championship Stories from December 18, 2023
- FC Tulsa Announces 2024 USL Championship Season Schedule - FC Tulsa
- Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Release Full 2024 Schedule - Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
- Republic FC Announces Full 2024 USL Championship Schedule and Competition Structure - Sacramento Republic FC
- USL Championship Unveils 2024 Regular Season Schedule - Phoenix Rising FC
- Detroit City FC Announces 2024 USL Championship Schedule - Detroit City FC
- USL Championship Unveils 2024 Schedule - Tampa Bay Rowdies
- Miami FC Announces 2024 Season Schedule - Miami FC
- Riverhounds 2024 Schedule Announced - Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
- Orange County SC Announces the Release of the 2024 USL Championship Schedule - Orange County SC
- San Antonio FC Announces 2024 USL Championship Schedule - San Antonio FC
- Hartford Athletic Announces 2024 USL Championship Schedule - Hartford Athletic
- Rhode Island FC to Open 2024 Season at Home on March 16 - Rhode Island FC
- Memphis 901 FC Moves to USLC Western Conference as League Releases 2024 Format and Full Schedule - Memphis 901 FC
- The 2024 Schedule Is Here - Oakland Roots
- New Mexico United Launches 2024 USL Championship Schedule - New Mexico United
- USL Championship Unveils 2024 Regular Season Schedule - USL
- 2024 USL Championship Slate Unveiled - North Carolina FC
- USL Championship Announces LouCity's 2024 Schedule - Louisville City FC
- Rio Grande Valley FC Ceases Operations - Rio Grande Valley FC Toros
- Charleston Battery Unveil 2024 Season Schedule for Conference Title Defense - Charleston Battery
- Lights FC Announce 2024 Season Schedule - Las Vegas Lights FC
- MBFC Announces 2024 Regular Season Schedule - Monterey Bay FC
- Miami FC Signs Defender Nicolás Cardona - Miami FC
- NCFC Signs Midfielder Jacori Hayes to Two-Year Contract - North Carolina FC
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