Riverhounds get four national TV games in 2024

Hounds to feature twice on ESPN2 and twice on CBS Sports Network during 2024 regular season campaign

After announcing the renewal of it’s multiyear TV deal with ESPN on Tuesday morning, the USL Championship subsequently revealed the league-record 35 national television matches that will air between CBS and ESPN networks in the 2024 season, with the Riverhounds as a major beneficiary on both platforms.

Of the 35 games on the national schedule, the Riverhounds will appear four times – joint-second most league-wide – with two appearances on each family of networks including CBS Sports Network and ESPN2. As noted by John Morrissey of Backheeled and the USL Show, the four appearances places the Riverhounds as top seven in the league alongside Louisville, Detroit City, and Phoenix Rising (5 appearances) as well as Birmingham, Charleston, and Sacramento (4 appearances). The four appearances is also a record for the Hounds as a club coming off the 2023 Players’ Shield-winning season.

50% confident I have the counts right this time https://t.co/8gxR0h5Z5O pic.twitter.com/cZvMyeygQo

— John Morrissey (@USLTactics) February 27, 2024

The four Riverhounds games on the national schedule include the following:

Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs. Louisville City FC – Wednesday, June 19th at 7:30 PM ET – CBS Sports Network

Pittsburgh Riverhounds vs. Hartford Athletic – Saturday, July 20th at 8 PM ET – ESPN2

Sacramento Republic vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds – Saturday, August 3rd at 10 PM ET – ESPN2

Detroit City FC vs. Pittsburgh Riverhounds – Wednesday, August 7th at 7 PM ET – CBS Sports Network

Aside from the nationally televised matches on CBS and CBS Sports Network, USL previously announced CBS would air an additional 75 games on the CBS Sports Golazo Network – available on Paramount+, the CBS Sports app, Pluto TV, and CBSSports.com. Aside from the CBS deal and nationally-televised ESPN games, the ESPN renewal confirmed today that the remaining 400+ USL Championship and USL League One regular season matches will air on ESPN+.

For any matches not nationally televised, home clubs will retain the flexibility to continue local linear TV deals (likely resulting in blackouts on ESPN+). The Riverhounds specified after today’s announcement that the local broadcast schedule for 2024 will be announced in the coming days.

Aside from the Riverhounds, this season will see the first USL Championship regular season games broadcast on CBS directly. Louisville City will host Indy Eleven on Saturday, April 6 at 4 PM ET to open the season’s national broadcasts, with Colorado Springs hosting Phoenix Rising on Saturday, August 3rd at 4 PM ET in the other CBS aired game.

Two regular-season USL League One games will also air nationally on CBS Sports Network, with Richmond Kickers hosting Forward Madison on Wednesday, July 3rd at 8 PM ET and expansion club Spokane Velocity hosting Union Omaha on Wednesday, September 4th at 9 PM ET. Additionally, the brand new USL League One Cup competition will see all matches air on ESPN+.

Finally, both the USL League One and USL Championship finals will air on national television, with USL League One appearing on the CBS Sports Network (date TBD) and the USL Championship airing on CBS on November 23rd.