This morning, USL and ESPN announced a renewal of their broadcasting agreement for USL Championship and USL League One. The multi-year media rights agreement will put more than 400 live matches per year of the USL Championship and USL League One onto ESPN platforms, beginning this season.

In the press release for the announcement, USL Chief Commercial Officer Court Jeske spoke about prioritizing coverage with the impending World Cup. “As we enter a new era for the USL with the 2026 World Cup approaching, our focus is to provide fans with more ways to watch than ever before and be the most widely available soccer league in our country. We have enjoyed a longstanding relationship with ESPN during which the USL has grown significantly, and we are incredibly excited to continue this partnership.”

The agreement extends the USL’s broadcasting deal with ESPN to a ninth year, making USL “the longest-running professional soccer partner currently on the ESPN networks.” Aside from the regular broadcasting of league matches, this year’s deal makes ESPN the exclusive place to watch the inaugural League One cup competition. All of the group-stage matches, playoffs, and the final will be streamed on ESPN+.

In November, when USL announced a new partnership with CBS Sports, there were some questions concerning where the remainder of the USL Championship and League One matches would end up. Today’s announcement seems to answer that question. One remaining shoe to drop is if the USL’s first division women’s league, the USL Super League, will also find a broadcasting partner before it launches in the fall of 2024. After the league’s sanctioning was announced earlier this month, USL Super League President, Amanda Vandervort, mentioned the process of finding a broadcast deal for the league she heads. “We’re navigating the Super League’s media rights separately. We know that the USL media rights have a high value and we’re excited to be negotiating those rights.”

- Dan Vaughn