Why USL’s revolutionary revenue-sharing deal is good news for Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC

In one of the most intriguing structural shifts in the history of the modern United Soccer League (USL), announced Thursday that its men’s professional clubs have voted to approve a comprehensive revenue-sharing model.

Established as a five-year agreement, this is a defined mechanism for the clubs — including Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC — to receive direct distributions from central, league-wide revenue streams. Centrally generated income, including national media rights, league-wide corporate sponsorships, betting data, and national expansion fees, will now directly flow down to member franchises.

Obviously the percentages matter, but this is an utterly enormous step toward the long-term sustainability of every club across the USL.

— John Morrissey (@usltactics.com) 2026-09-10T16:10:41.658Z

The breakthrough comes under the leadership of USL President and CEO Paul McDonough, alongside co-chair Kewsong Lee of private equity firm BellTower Partners, following months of collaboration with club ownership groups and the recent ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to grow soccer in this country, and we’re much clearer today about the role the USL can play in doing that,” McDonough said.

“We can bring professional soccer to more communities, give more players and coaches meaningful environments to develop and create a competitive system where games matter and clubs have something to play for. Our owners have invested tremendously in this league, and today’s vote shows the alignment we have around where we’re going and what we’re building together. There’s a lot of work ahead, but I’m excited about what we can accomplish together.”

In the USL release, Louisville City FC Chairman and CEO John Neace provided the club’s perspective.

“I’ve been around the USL a long time, and I’ve seen this league evolve tremendously. As owners, we look at things from our side of the table, and the league has its responsibilities on the other side. This is an important step that allows us to work more cohesively and make decisions that are good for the game, not just our own individual interests. A rising tide lifts all boats, and I believe this will strengthen the USL as a whole.”

Pittsburgh Soccer Now reached out to the Riverhounds SC organization on Thursday following the league’s announcement. While club officials were unavailable for immediate comment, PSN expects to connect with Riverhounds President Jeff Garner in the coming days to discuss the local impact of the landmark deal.

What Does This Mean for USL and US Pro Soccer?

How important is this?

When Pittsburgh Soccer Now’s Colton Coreschi shared the news within our group, he pointed out that this development is bigger than the USL adding a Division I league or establishing promotion/relegation system.

The bottom line — it provides a win-win scenario for the league and the clubs.

The economic structure for years in the lower division leagues, which USL has been the primary anchor on the US pro soccer landscape for the past 15 years, if not longer, has mostly been built through expansion fees and other commercial revenues streamed from media and sponsorship deals, but all of that revenue remained in the league’s headquarters, based in Tampa, FL.

The individual franchises, like the Riverhounds, which have been in operation since 1999 and have fielded a team in the ‘modern’ USL since 2011, but also with previous entities of USL before that, have largely relied on attendance (gate receipts) and its own funding/revenue streams to maintain operations and build/maintain its own facilities.

In most cases, the individual clubs have struggled to finish most seasons in the black, taking on losses and in some cases cost overruns, relying on non-team revenue streams at times to keep afloat.  In Pittsburgh, the Riverhounds have teetered a few times, but had to overcome playing before sparce crowds when they played at local high school venues, then after the exhilarating promise and potential upon the opening of Highmark (now FNB) Stadium in 2013, major cost overruns followed which left the organization with no other option but to go to U.S. Bankruptcy Court in 2014.  It was during this time when Tuffy Shallenberger became the club’s primary owner.  Shallenberger helped steer the club out of Bankruptcy and into a more stable tenure over the next decade-plus.

For the league, this news about revenue-sharing rewrites the book in the following ways:

1. Alignment of Capital and “Rising Tide” Financials: The agreement aligns the financial interests of league leadership directly with individual team owners. By opening up central revenue streams—most notably multi-million dollar expansion fees—to every franchise owner, the financial model ensures that league-wide expansion directly strengthens existing clubs.

2. The Financial Safety Net for Promotion & Relegation (2028): Meritocracy requires a financial backstop. With the planned launch of USL Premier in 2028 as the new top tier of a unified three-division system, clubs that eventually face relegation down to the USL Championship will need stable, guaranteed distributions to maintain roster investments and infrastructure without facing financial ruin.

3. Attracting High-Level Institutional Investment: Coupled with the strategic backing of private equity partner BellTower Partners, a unified, revenue-sharing structure makes USL franchises significantly more attractive to deep-pocketed prospective buyers and local venue developers. Investors now gain access to predictable central upside rather than relying entirely on local ticket and concession sales.

How About the Riverhounds?

As mentioned previously, the Hounds are one of the two original USL Championship franchises (make that three if you include USL League One’s Richmond Kickers) under the USL umbrella, so they represent one of the more established entities in the mix.

There a few ways that we can see immediate impact with this revenue-sharing model for the Riverhounds:

1. Financial Boost Beyond Gate, Concessions, Merch, Sponsorships — Steady revenue streams from the league would provide a much needed boost. Up until this point, Riverhounds revenue has come from gate receipts, local concessions, sponsorships, player transfers (if they’ve been fortunate) and merchandise.  I am sure there few other specifics I cannot think of — as it’s not certain how revenues from both FNB Stadium and AHN Montour relate to the team’s overall operating budget. Now, as one of anywhere from 25 teams currently or in a proposed 20-team Premier or Championship set-up, the Hounds will get a cut from league revenues (without all the details — these would like eminate from national media deals and expansion fees.
2. Stadium Expansion and Premier Division Now Have a More Realistic Foundation — On their own, the Riverhounds announced big ambitions in the past 12 months from having intentions to expand FNB Stadium by 10,000 seats and add more suites to firmly wanting to be part of the Premier Divison when it kicks off (they’re aiming for 2028).  But without any signs of progress or announcements about concrete funding sources for the stadium expansion and ways they would be able to potentially inccrease payroll under the current organization budget, there was some doubt as to how they would be able to move forward.  But with a revenue-sharing plan in place that could also mean more lucrative media and sponsorship deals for the league as the USL prepares to divide its top tier into single-table 20-team divisions for Premier and Championship come 2028, the Hounds might just have enough capital to move forward and eventually keep pace with higher-spending, major-market ownership groups. There are still a lot of questions about this — but revenue-sharing gives Pittsburgh a seat at the table.  And as once of the USL’s legacy franchises who have been successful on the field and in recent seasons playing before sellout crowds regularly, they are in a better position and likely can avoid going into debt to make it possible.  Knowing that they have a stronger base of support from the league, might also spur and increase more private and public investement with stadium expansion and potential sponsorships and more.
3. Long Term Benefits — There’s also so much more to the organization’s long term plans.  What about the Women’s Professional Team?  What about further expansion to AHN Montour? Can the Academy be truly independent of the pro club?  There are other pieces of the equations too — like scouting, academy pathways, and first-team player retention as there was also a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that was formally announced recently, too.

While the details are still being finalized and flushed out, the bottom line is that this is a massive, exciting development for the Riverhounds and for pro soccer in Pittsburgh and in the United States.  We look forward to following how this will work out and connecting with Riverhounds’ officials to get their reaction and how this helps them set the course forward.