Rising FC game at Louisville to be part of major soccer event
Phoenix Rising FC’s match on July 20 at Louisville City FC will be the first United Soccer League Summer Showcase match, the league announced Wednesday.
The USL Summer Showcase is a multi-day celebration of soccer in the United States that spotlights the league’s role in the present and future of the sport in the country. The event includes the league’s annual mid-year meetings and community events, culminating with the Phoenix Rising-Louisville match.
“Phoenix Rising’s consistent success on and off the field helped us determine the ideal matchup for this year’s Showcase. We expect this to be the mostwatched interconference match of the USL Championship regular season.” USL Chief Commercial Officer Court Jeske said in announcing the showcase.
The team currently has games broadcast on Bally Sports Arizona and in the past has appeared on the ESPN networks. This season, Rising FC’s home game against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, traditionally a top Eastern Conference club, is set for ESPN2 on May 15.
The July 20 match at Louisville’s Lynn Family Stadium was already scheduled to be on ESPN2; now it will be part of the Summer Showcase. The facility has a capacity of up to 15,304 fans and opened just two years ago.
Representatives from the many USL clubs at different league levels will attend the meetings and watch the match.
The game features two of the most successful clubs in the USL Championship, the second division of American soccer one rung below Major League Soccer. It’s a rematch of the 2018 USL Championship Final, which Louisville won 1-0.
Louisville City has reached the Eastern Conference Final in all seven seasons of its existence, winning back-toback USL Championship titles in 2017 and 2018. Rising FC has won the Western Conference twice in the last four years and leads the USL Championship in regular-season wins (93), points (307), and goals scored (325) since the start of the 2017 season.
“We are honored and excited to be part of the inaugural USL Championship Summer Showcase,” Phoenix Rising FC Governor Berke Bakay said. “This will be our first match against Louisville since the 2018 USL Championship Final, so we are eager for the challenge. I couldn’t imagine a better matchup for the first showcase. I expect the game will live up to the world-class facilities in which it will be played and the national broadcast attention it will receive from ESPN2.”