The National Women’s Soccer League on Thursday released Racing Louisville FC’s 2024 regular-season schedule, with Racing playing 26 matches – 13 home at Lynn Family Stadium and 13 away – in a balanced slate that will run from mid-March to early November.
As part of the NWSL’s new media rights deal, Racing will have 16 nationally broadcast games, including one on Amazon Prime Video and three on either ESPN or ESPN2. Details on Racing’s local television partnership will be announced later.
The four added games this year account for the NWSL’s two new expansion teams, Bay FC and Utah Royals, joining the competition. With the expanded field, the NWSL Playoffs will include eight teams in 2024, starting Nov. 9-10 and running consecutive weekends through the NWSL Championship on Nov. 24.
The full schedule can be found at RacingLouFC.com/schedule. Tickets are available by visiting RacingLouFC.com/tickets or calling (502) 568-2489 during business hours. Racing’s 2024 season ticket package starts at $14 apiece per game, and STMs can trade out tickets to games they can’t make for additional tickets to other matches.
Racing kicks off its much-anticipated 2024 campaign at home, hosting the Orlando Pride at 4 p.m. ET Saturday, March 16, at Lynn Family Stadium. It will the second time in Louisville’s four years of existence that it opened NWSL competition at home against Orlando, a talented team that narrowly missed the 2023 playoffs after a late-season surge.
The following Saturday, Racing will play its first road contest, an 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff at Houston in a showdown between two new NWSL coaches, Louisville’s Bev Yanez and the Dash’s Fran Alonso.
An exciting new addition to Racing’s schedule this year: a home game during Thunder Over Louisville. The match is an official Kentucky Derby Festival event and part of Thunder, the kickoff celebration of the 2024 Kentucky Derby set for April 20. Louisville will host Utah Royals FC at 5 p.m. ET, and ticket holders to the game will receive a wristband allowing for re-entry to Lynn Family Stadium throughout the day. The evening will culminate with the famous Thunder Over Louisville fireworks show over the Ohio River.
In all, Racing plays 25 of its 26 league games on weekends, with two on Fridays, 17 on Saturdays and six on Sundays. Only one mid-week game is on the schedule: Wednesday, June 19, at Angel City in Los Angeles.
Racing also has four afternoon kickoffs at home this year, including a 1 p.m. ET start on Saturday, June 15, when Louisville hosts reigning NWSL champions NJ/NY Gotham FC in a game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
The Louisvillians will host the Washington Spirit at 8 p.m. ET Friday, May 10, in their first game carried by Prime Video. The Saturday, June 29, home match against Bay FC will be broadcast on ESPN, a first for Racing.
With Yanez at the helm, Racing has built a strong roster with a mix of NWSL veterans and international stars. The club retained 16 players from the 2023 campaign, accounting for 73.5% of the team’s minutes played and 65% of the team’s scoring. Louisville added three players who were on 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup rosters, plus NWSL veterans Marisa (Viggiano) DiGrande, Ellie Jean, Taylor (Kornieck) Flint and Arin Wright and highly touted draft pick Reilyn Turner from UCLA and the U.S. Youth National Team.
The returning group is led by NWSL Best XI selection Savannah DeMelo and captain Jaelin Howell, Racing’s 2022 NWSL Draft first-round picks who’ve established themselves as two of the top midfielders in the league alongside Brazilian star Ary Borges. Returners also include Racing’s three iron women who played every minute last season – goalkeeper Katie Lund and defenders Abby Erceg and Lauren Milliet – and star left back Carson Pickett.
Racing’s last regular-season home game is a big one, a 7:30 p.m. ET Saturday, October 19, against league power Portland Thorns. Two weeks later, Racing’s regular-season finale will be the same as it was in 2023, a matchup at San Diego, with ESPN set to carry the broadcast at 5:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, November 3.
The NWSL’s full schedule can be seen at NWSLSoccer.com with Racing’s slate in full below.
2024 Racing Louisville FC schedule
(Home games listed in bold with all times Eastern)
Saturday, March 16: Orlando Pride, 4 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, March 23: at Houston Dash, 8:30 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, March 30: at Portland Thorns, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, April 13: San Diego Wave, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, April 20: Utah Royals, 5 p.m., NWSL+
Sunday, April 28: at NJ/NY Gotham, 5 p.m., NWSL+
Sunday, May 5: at Orlando Pride, 6 p.m., NWSL+
Friday, May 10: Washington Spirit, 8 p.m., Prime Video
Saturday, May 18: at Kansas City Current, 9:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, May 25: at Chicago Red Stars, 7:30 p.m., ION
Friday, June 7: Houston Dash, 8 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, June 15: NJ/NY Gotham, 1 p.m., ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+
Wednesday, June 19: at Angel City, 10 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Sunday, June 23: at Seattle Reign, 6 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, June 29: Bay FC, 4 p.m., ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+
Sunday, July 7: at North Carolina Courage, 4:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network
Saturday, August 24: Chicago Red Stars, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, August 31: Seattle Reign, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, September 7: at Bay FC, 10 p.m., ION
Saturday, September 14: Angel City, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, September 21: North Carolina Courage, 7:30 p.m., ION
Saturday, September 28: at Utah Royals, 7 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, October 5: Kansas City Current, 7:30 p.m., NWSL+
Sunday, October 13: at Washington Spirit, 5 p.m., NWSL+
Saturday, October 19: Portland Thorns, 7:30 p.m., ION
Sunday, November 3: at San Diego Wave, 5:30 p.m., ESPN, ESPN Deportes, ESPN+