36-team lineup sees four expansion clubs in East, Saint Louis & Swope Park shift conferences

TAMPA, Fla. – The USL Championship today announced its conference alignment for the league’s 2019 regular season. The league will feature 36 teams across two conferences in the upcoming season, with the clubs set to embark on a 34-game regular-season schedule that will be conducted over 33 weeks and open on the weekend of March 8-10, 2019.

Four of the league’s expansion arrivals will join the Eastern Conference, with Birmingham Legion FC, Hartford Athletic, Loudoun United FC and Memphis 901 FC joining the conference led by defending USL Cup champion Louisville City FC.

 

The Eastern Conference also features two new arrivals in Saint Louis FC and the Swope Park Rangers, who make the move after both reaching the USL Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference a season ago.

 

The remaining three expansion clubs – Austin Bold FC, El Paso Locomotive FC and New Mexico United – join the Western Conference for their inaugural seasons. The addition of Austin and El Paso to the conference gives the USL Championship four clubs in Texas for the first time, while New Mexico and El Paso are set to engage in a strong regional rivalry with the clubs separated by just over 250 miles.

2019 USL Championship Conference Alignment
Eastern Conference                                                Western Conference
ATL UTD 2                                                                 Austin Bold FC
Bethlehem Steel FC                                                 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
Birmingham Legion FC                                            El Paso Locomotive FC
Charleston Battery                                                  Fresno FC
Charlotte Independence                                          LA Galaxy II
Hartford Athletic                                                      Las Vegas Lights FC
Indy Eleven                                                               New Mexico United
Loudoun United FC                                                  OKC Energy FC
Louisville City FC                                                      Orange County SC
Memphis 901 FC                                                      Phoenix Rising FC
Nashville SC                                                              Portland Timbers 2
New York Red Bulls II                                              Real Monarchs SLC
North Carolina FC                                                    Reno 1868 FC
Ottawa Fury FC                                                        Rio Grande Valley FC
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC                                     Sacramento Republic FC
Saint Louis FC                                                           San Antonio FC
Swope Park Rangers                                                Seattle Sounders FC 2
Tampa Bay Rowdies                                                Tulsa Roughnecks FC

Home openers for the 2019 USL Championship season and the full 2019 regular season schedule will be announced at a future date.