The United Soccer League will expand its schedule to 32 games in 2017, the league announced on Monday. The decision comes after the annual USL Board of Governors mid-year meetings in San Jose.
“After evaluating a number of proposals the League and its Competition Committee agreed on several changes that we felt would deliver value to our clubs through the extra home match,” said Jake Edwards, USL President. “Also, lengthening the season gives us greater flexibility to create a more balanced schedule with less midweek matches. We will continue to build our national footprint with a focus on regional rivalries and a roadmap to a three-conference alignment in the very near future.”
The 2017 season will begin the weekend of March 24-26 and will span not more than 30 weeks. The new look schedule will allow teams conference opponents at least twice, one home and one away.
Playoff formats will remain unchanged with the top eight from each conference making the postseason.
The current 2016 USL schedule consists of 30 games played in 27 weeks.
