USL Championship, Riverhounds to play 16 games in shortened 2020 season

The USL Championship and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds now know what their 2020 regular season schedule will look like after the league revealed its structure on Wednesday.

The season will consist of a 16-game regular season schedule, and there will be an updated single-elimination playoff structure.

While some teams started their season before the coronavirus pandemic postponed the season, the Riverhounds had yet to play a game, so they will play a full 16-game schedule. Teams that already played one or two games this season will play the remaining amount to meet the 16-game total.

After the league begins, which has a provisional start date of July 11, the season will last 13 weeks and will finish on the weekend of Oct. 2.

Teams will be split into eight groups based on their regional location. Five of those groups will have four teams and three groups will have five teams.  

The groups haven’t been unveiled yet, but some teams that the Riverhounds could be grouped with, based on geographical location, include Philadelphia Union II, New York Red Bulls II, Loudon United and Hartford Athletic. Teams will play 12 matches against their group opponents and will play the final four against a team in a similar geographical location.

To start the season, teams will play a balanced schedule of eight games at home and eight on the road. But the USL Board of Governors has also approved the idea of clubs playing an unequal amount of home and away matches if it is absolutely necessary.

To decide the playoff field, the top two teams from each group will advance into a regionalized single-elimination bracket.

The league is also changing substitution rules. Earlier this week, it approved an increase of subs per game from three to five, but teams will only have three opportunities to make the five substitutions.