USL Championship
ABOUT USL CHAMPIONSHIP
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 North America. Sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a Division II professional league, the USL Championship includes a membership of 24 clubs across the continental United States.
Through the league's headquarters in Tampa, Florida, the clubs are provided with unparalleled support with a growing team of more than 80 professionals across 20 departments, ranging from operations to marketing, communications and sponsorship.
The USL Championship has a national media partnership with both ESPN and CBS platforms which sees all league matches broadcast on digital and linear channels. The league also operates USL Productions, which includes a state-of-the-art facility that produced and distributed more than 500 league matches and more than 1,000 hours of original content to national partners, local affiliates and international markets throughout the 2023 season.
HISTORY
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, including the Charleston Battery, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC and the Richmond Kickers.
Over the course of the current decade, the sophisticated business model that provides the foundation for the USL has allowed the league to grow into the largest professional soccer league in North America, with 36 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 and its member clubs.
USL FAN BASE
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.
U.S. OPEN CUP
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, recognized as U.S. Soccer’s National Club Championship, is an annual competition open to all amateur and professional soccer teams affiliated with U.S. Soccer. The tournament has crowned a champion for 103 consecutive years dating from 1914. In 1999, the competition was renamed to honor American soccer pioneer Lamar Hunt.
A record 22 USL Championship teams entered the tournament in 2017: the Charleston Battery, Charlotte Independence, Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC, FC Cincinnati, Fresno FC, Indy Eleven, Las Vegas Lights FC, Louisville City FC, Nashville SC, North Carolina FC, OKC Energy FC, Orange County SC, Penn FC, Phoenix Rising FC, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Reno 1868 FC, Richmond Kickers, Sacramento Republic FC, Saint Louis FC, San Antonio FC, Tampa Bay Rowdies and Tulsa Roughnecks FC. The 105th edition of the historic tournament featured 97 teams in 2018, with USL Championship teams beginning Open Cup play in the Second Round (May 17). This year’s winning team received $300,000, a berth in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions’ League and had its name engraved on the historic Dewar Challenge Trophy, one of the oldest nationally contested trophies in American team sports. The runner-up earned $100,000, and the team that advanced the furthest from each lower division took home a $25,000 prize, which for the USL Championship was Louisville City FC, which reached the tournament’s Quarterfinals for the first time in its history.
