USL News Release
Friday, April 1, 2011
TAMPA, Fla. – United Soccer Leagues is pleased to announce that more than 100 live games from the 2011 USL PRO season will be available online through USL Live. The live game webcasts will complement USL PRO’s 2011 national broadcast television package, which will be announced in the coming days.
Now in its fifth year, USL Live (www.usllive.com) is the popular online video destination for all fans of the teams and players of United Soccer Leagues. After shifting its focus to mostly short-form feature content for the 2010 season, USL Live will return to its original focus this season with 10 USL PRO clubs streaming their home games live.
The first scheduled live game webcasts will take place next Saturday, April 9, as Orlando City and the Charleston Battery host their home openers for the 2011 USL PRO season. Several additional games will be seen on USL Live during the next two weekends as USL PRO Kickoff 2011 continues.
USL PRO clubs planning to stream their home games live in 2011 include Antigua Barracuda FC, the Charleston Battery, the Dayton Dutch Lions, the Harrisburg City Islanders, the LA Blues, Orlando City, Puerto Rico United, River Plate Puerto Rico, the Rochester Rhinos and the Wilmington Hammerheads. USL has equipped each team with broadcast-quality production kits to enable them to stream games.
In addition to live games and full-length game archives, USL Live will continue highlighting the teams and personalities throughout USL’s pyramid of youth, amateur and professional leagues with highlights, interviews and short-form features. In 2010 clubs from USL’s professional leagues, the Premier Development League and the W-League provided a regular menu of highlights, archived games, player profiles, match previews and behind-the-scenes glimpses of life in elite-level amateur and professional soccer.
“Expanding USL Live last year to include short-form content from all of our teams was extremely important,” USL Director of New Media Seth Witkowicz said. “Now, with the momentum generated by USL PRO, we are thrilled to offer fans more than 100 live games in 2011 while continuing to present new and dynamic feature content. We’ve had a tremendous response from the teams and fans, and we expect the entertainment value offered by USL Live to continue to grow.”
USL Live made its debut in 2007 and centered on providing compelling video content for fans, both live and on-demand. While it originated as a subscription service, USL Live is now available completely free and all videos may be linked, shared, or embedded through unlimited web platforms.