Good morning! It’s going to be a slightly busier day around here than usual because the full 2020 USL Championship schedule is going to be released today at some point. We’ll do our best to do a review of it when it’s released, but the real job tends to get in the way of that so our thoughts might not be posted until tomorrow. Managing expectations is the best way to keep you, my non-paying clientele, happy, and that’s what this is about. Onward!
USL Releases National TV Schedule
Yesterday, the league tweeted the full national TV broadcast schedule for matches that will appear on ESPN’s family of networks. Louisville City’s home opener against Birmingham on April 11 will feature on ESPNNews, as well as another home match on Wednesday, July 1 against Pittsburgh. Overall, there are 19 regular season games that will be broadcast on ESPNNews, ESPN Deportes (yessss), and ESPN2.
Only two games will be on The Deuce, Memphis vs. Charleston on April 29 and San Diego vs. El Paso on August 12. Not the games I would have picked, but I suppose it’s better than nothing.
Howard named Sporting Director at 901
Tim Howard, fresh off retirement as a player, will be Memphis 901’s new sporting director. I think that’s the same thing as “director of football” or “technical director,” but sometimes those words mean different things. Either way, it’s his first front office gig, and I supposed his resume was boosted by the fact that he owns a chunk of the club. Memphis being good will be good for the league, and it’d be nice for Louisville City to have another local-ish rival aside from Indy once St. Louis FC disappears. Good luck to the former Secretary of Defense.
Reuter: Why more USL players don’t make the jump to MLS
If you’ve got some time and a subscription to The Athletic, I highly recommend taking some time to dive into this interesting article about the glass ceiling so many USL players seem to bump into while trying to advance their playing careers. Louisville City has had more success than any other independent USL side in getting guys into the country’s top division, but it hasn’t been that many when compared to open system structures. Hopefully that gap continues to close as salary budgets expand, but there will need to be more development of younger talent, in my view, before an MLS club will take a chance on a kid they didn’t develop. I’m hoping that’s what Louisville City’s long term view is from a player personnel perspective.
