ESPN to broadcast USL Championship game: Detroit City FC vs. El Paso Locomotive
The Worldwide Leader in Sports is giving Detroit City Football Club's men's team and Hamtramck's boisterous Keyworth Stadium a bigger stage later this month.
United Soccer League Championship announced Thursday that DCFC's regular-season June 18 game vs. the El Paso Locomotive will be flexed from ESPN2 to the flagship station. It's just the second USL Championship game to make ESPN's main channel — the last was the 2021 title match.
The 2022 final Nov. 13 was originally the only USLC match this season with a chance to be broadcast on the main station, but Le Rouge (7-3-2 in the USLC's west) and the Locomotive (6-2-6 in the east) will get that opportunity first. Detroit City-El Paso was moved from an ESPN2 telecast at 7 p.m. June 17 to an ESPN telecast at noon June 18.
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Though warm-weather summer Saturdays are not as competitive hours for ESPN programming as other times of the year, the move signals confidence in DCFC — which is in its first year of USLC competition — and its fanbase, which is known to pack 7,993-seat Keyworth Stadium.
Le Rouge garnered additional attention after taking down the Columbus Crew of the MLS at home earlier this spring.
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ESPN continues to deepen its relationship with soccer's professional minor leagues. Several games this season have already been played on ESPN Deportes, including DCFC's win over Birmingham. The station has tripled its amount of USLC broadcasts across ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN+ since 2018, according to a January news release from the league.
Le Rouge has a home game Saturday vs. Pittsburgh and a road game June 11 at Sacramento before the matinee with the Locomotive.
Follow the Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at tjdavis@freepress.com or on Twitter @TDavisFreep.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: USL on ESPN: Detroit City Football Club vs. El Paso on June 18
