Austin Bold FC announces schedule for inaugural USL Championship season

AUSTIN, Texas - Austin Bold FC announced its complete 34-match schedule for its inaugural USL Championship season on Wednesday. ABFC will open the season on the road at Cashman Field in Las Vegas on Saturday, March 9 against Las Vegas Lights FC, and begin the home portion of the schedule with the first-ever match at Bold Stadium on Saturday, March 30, at 7:30 p.m. vs. San Antonio FC.

Austin Bold FC will face each Western Conference opponent twice, home and away, with the San Antonio tilt slated as the first of 17 USL Championship regular-season home matches.

Including San Antonio, the home schedule is highlighted by visits from three Texas-based clubs, with Bold Stadium hosting fellow expansion team El Paso Locomotive FC on April 21 and Rio Grande Valley FC on Sept. 1. Other notable matches include defending Western Conference champion Phoenix Rising FC on April 17 and first-year club New Mexico United on May 25. The final home match of the USL Championship regular season will be held on Sept. 22 against Las Vegas.

The busiest month of the season will be September, with the Bold competing in four home matches and two on the road. ABFC will wrap up the regular season with four straight away matches, finishing with its longest trip of the year to face Seattle Sounders FC 2 at Chaney Stadium in Tacoma, Wash. on Oct. 19. Single-match tickets, group packages and flex plans will be available for purchase in early 2019.

The remainder of the home schedule will be announced on a later date.

Fans can lock in the lowest prices now by purchasing 2019 season tickets. For information about season ticket packages, call the Austin Bold FC sales office at 512.872.8731 or visit AustinBoldFC.com/tickets. Austin Bold FC supporters can follow the club on Twitter (@AustinBoldFC) and Instagram (@AustinBoldFC) and like Austin Bold FC on Facebook.

On Oct. 24, the club broke ground on Bold Stadium, a 5,036-seat soccer-specific stadium to be located adjacent to the Grand Plaza at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the premier destination for entertainment and motorsports in the United States. The stadium is the first soccer-specific stadium built in Central Texas and has been engineered to provide an outstanding experience for both fans and players. In addition to the full regular-season schedule, the USL Championship unveiled an expanded format for the USL Cup Playoffs.

Beginning in 2019, the USL Cup Playoffs will expand to include 10 teams from each conference, with the lowest four seeds in each conference opening the postseason in the Play-In Round, provisionally slated for Wednesday, Oct. 23 with the No. 7 seed hosting the No. 10 seed and the No. 8 seed hosting the No. 9 seed for a place in the Conference Quarterfinals.

The single-elimination format will then continue for the following four weekends in a fixed-bracket format with the higher seed in each matchup serving as host through the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. The 2019 USL Cup will be held between Nov. 14-18, 2019 and be hosted by the conference champion with the better regular-season record.

2019 USL Cup Playoffs Schedule

Play-In Round - October 23
Conference Quarterfinals - October 25-27
Conference Semifinals - November 1-3
Conference Finals - November 8-10
USL Cup - November 14-18

Austin Bold FC 2019 USL Championship Season Breakdown:

Home Dates by Day of the Week: Wednesday (2), Friday (2), Saturday (9), Sunday (4)
Wednesday (2), Friday (2), Saturday (9), Sunday (4)
Road Dates by Day of the Week: Wednesday (2), Thursday (1), Friday (1), Saturday (13)
Wednesday (2), Thursday (1), Friday (1), Saturday (13)
Home Dates by Month: March (1), April (3), May (2), June (3), July (2), August (2), September (4)
March (1), April (3), May (2), June (3), July (2), August (2), September (4)

Road Dates by Month:

March (2), April (1), May (3), June (2), July (2), August (2), September (2), October (3)

Shortest Distance Traveled for Away Match: