LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Those three little words have reared their heads again in Louisville City FC circles: “Major League Soccer.” But in this case, there’s little in the way of new development to report.
In an interview with the website SportBusiness.com, Soccer Holdings LLC president Brad Estes said that now that the USL club has moved into a new stadium, MLS would certainly be a part of its strategic discussions and planning.
For most of its existence, the club has had building a new stadium as a major strategic piece, along with the founding of an academy, building a training center, establishing a nonprofit foundation and other measures. With the stadium a reality, and with an expansion NWSL team set to begin play, it’s natural that MLS would become a more realistic discussion point. But Estes said there is no active effort to move that direction at the moment.
“There’s multiple facets to a strategic plan for this company that were not a part of our strategic plan in 2015,” Estes said. “At this point we have LouCity, we have Racing, we have Lynn Family Stadium, we have our training facility, we have our Academy structure, at some point hopefully in the near future we will be rolling out our non-profit foundation. There are multiple parts to a strategic plan and they all need to work together. And that’s what we’ll be updating over the next 6 to 12 months.”
USL has been good for Louisville City FC, and the club’s success owes a great deal to the league. It’s a destination unto itself for the club.
At the same time, those around the organization don’t rule out MLS possibilities. And with a stadium up and running, those possibilities are more realistic than they were before and possibly more realistic than for cities who have stadiums only in the planning stages.
LouCity has a healthy rivalry with MLS member FC Cincinnati and is building the same with Nashville’s franchise.
“We’ve never been MLS or bust,” Estes said. “We don’t want to alienate either league, because we’re not at a decision point. It doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.”
LouCity is set to open its USL Championship season on April 24 against Atlanta United 2 in Lynn Family Stadium, the league has announced. Racing Louisville FC is set to begin its season at home on April 10 in the NWSL’s Challenge Cup tournament. Racing will face the Orlando Pride. The NWSL’s regular season is expected to begin in mid-May.
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