The defending USL Championship winners, Phoenix Rising FC revealed its 2024 schedule today, kicking off at 38th St. & Washington on Saturday, March 9 (7:30 p.m.) against Birmingham Legion FC.
Capitalizing on the Spring weather in Phoenix, Rising will play two more times in March (3/23 vs. Oakland & 3/30 vs. New Mexico), April (4/13 vs. Colorado & 4/20 vs. Pittsburgh) and May (5/4 vs. Sacramento & 5/18 vs. Miami) before hitting the road for seven of 11 away matches during the summer months.
Single-game tickets for Rising’s 2024 campaign will go on sale Monday, January 22.
About the 2024 USL Championship Schedule
Each team will play 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.
The 2024 season will see expansion side Rhode Island FC embark on its inaugural season while North Carolina FC returns to the league 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 and 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.
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 AND CONFERENCE 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.
Western Conference
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
El Paso Locomotive FC
Las Vegas Lights FC
Memphis 901 FC
Monterey Bay FC
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, 2023.
