The USL Championship is one of the most successful professional soccer leagues in the world, reaching a population of more than 84 million and fueling the growth of the game across the United States. Headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the USL provides unparalleled club support with a growing team of more than 60 professionals across 17 departments, ranging from operations to marketing, communications and sponsorship.
The USL Championship has a national media partnership with ESPN, wherein all league matches are broadcast on ESPN+ and across linear channels. The league also operates USL Productions, which includes a state-of-the-art facility that produced and distributed more than 1,000 league matches and more than 2,000 hours of original content to national partners, local affiliates and international markets throughout the past two seasons.
HISTORY OF USL CHAMPIONSHIP
The USL Championship was formed when two existing professional leagues were combined into a single league property before the 2011 season. The league was designed to help ensure the long-term stability of professional soccer in North America and featured 12 teams in a pair of six-team divisions during its initial campaign. Among the league’s founding members were five longtime USL clubs with more than 100 years of operation among them – the Charleston Battery, Harrisburg City Islanders (now Penn FC), Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Richmond Kickers and Rochester Rhinos.
Over the course of the current decade, the sophisticated business model that provides the foundation for the USL Championship has allowed the league to grow into the largest professional soccer league in North America, with more than 35 current members that include world-class ownership groups. The league’s current club owners also hold stakes in teams that compete in the National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Minor League Baseball and the NBA G-League. In January of 2017, after a thorough application review process, the U.S. Soccer Federation granted the USL Division II status beginning in the 2017 season, recognizing the significant investment and high level of operating excellence within the USL Championship and its member clubs.
FANS OF USL CHAMPIONSHIP
The USL fan skews young (64% between ages of 18-44) and male (79%), comparable with MLS fans and the general population; a high proportion of them are college educated (91%), employed (87%) and with a high annual income (42% have household income of at least $100K). USL fans are passionate about the game of soccer with a high number being current and former players with a strong interest in various soccer leagues. USL fans are highly engaged with the league with more than three-quarters attending at least two games in 2015, while 45% are season ticket holders. The USL fan is tech savvy with more than one-third consuming USL-related news via digital and social platforms on a regular basis.
USL CHAMPIONSHIP PLAYOFFS
The pinnacle of the USL Championship’s season brings together 20 teams, the top ten teams from both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, to compete in the USL Championship Playoffs, as five weeks of postseason action decides the league’s champion. The fixed-seed format concludes with the USL Championship Final, which is held at the home of the conference champion with the best regular-season record.
