Between the USL Championship and USL League One, there will be 620 live games during the 2023 season, all available on ESPN and its platforms. Please note that this does not mean ESPN, ESPN2 or ABC. Instead, the vast majority of these games are available on ESPN+, ESPN’s paid streaming platform. However, ESPN will broadcast an impressive total of nine USL games on ESPN2 this season.
This is the eighth season that ESPN has covered second and third tier soccer in the United States. In the past, certain games were broadcast on certain channels, mostly on streaming platforms. This year is consistent with that trend.
In the 2023 campaign, there will be nine games airing on ESPN2 from the USL Championship and League One. Of course, the only League One game airing on ESPN2 is the USL League One championship game on November 5.
Still, that leaves eight USL Championship games airing on ESPN2. That includes the USL Championship title game a week after the USL League One title decider on November 12.
The seven regular season games on ESPN2 are as follows:
May 13 — Louisville City FC vs. Miami FC. July 1 — Phoenix Rising FC vs. Memphis 901 FC. July 15 — Monterey Bay FC vs. Oakland Roots SC. July 19 — Detroit City FC vs. Louisville City SC. 9—Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC vs. FC Tulsa.Aug. 16—San Antonio FC vs. Rio Grande Valley FC.Aug. 19—San Diego Loyal SC vs. New Mexico United.
ESPN deal could help USL Championship and League One grow
The USL fell behind Major League Soccer in terms of popularity. That’s not necessarily a surprise, since MLS is the top division, and the USL Championship and League One are second and third, respectively.
USL on ESPN+
Includes: Bundesliga, LaLiga, USL Championship and more
Watch now
With Apple and Major League Soccer reaching an agreement that puts the league almost exclusively on streaming, some of the more casual fans may not be watching MLS Season Pass. Those who tuned in to MLS games when they aired on the ESPN or FOX channels could skip the $14.99 monthly subscription to watch MLS.
However, those same fans may already have ESPN+ to watch various soccer leagues in Europe or other sports on a national level. Therefore, ESPN+ broadcasting all the matches of these two leagues could be an opportunity for soccer fans to get more interested. There are a variety of teams across the country competing. And users only have to pay $9.99 per month to play most games. Plus, they get access to significantly more content than MLS Season Pass offers.
