On Thursday, the USL made two major announcements concerning the return to play in League One and the Championship.
First up, USL League One has an agreement in place between the players and the teams, along with the official policies regarding COVID-19 mitigation efforts. While no schedule has been announced yet, the league has a set date of July 18 to return to play, barring any potential returns to lockdown stemming from the recent spike in cases.
For the USL Championship, the league has announced the format for the return to play.
Teams will play a reduced 16 game schedule and will be further subdivided into regional groups of 4 to 5 teams. Each team will play up to 12 games against members of their regional group, followed by up to 4 more games against other nearby teams, depending on how many games had been played at the time of postponement. The top 2 teams from each group will then advance to a single-elimination playoff bracket split into Eastern and Western conferences, with the winners of each conference bracket contesting the 2020 USL Championship Final.
Also announced today are the four groups for the USL Championship Western Conference.
Group A
- Portland Timbers 2
- Reno 1868 FC
- Sacramento Republic FC
- Tacoma Defiance
Group B
- LA Galaxy II
- Las Vegas Lights FC
- Orange County SC
- Phoenix Rising FC
- San Diego Loyal SC
Group C
- Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC
- El Paso Locomotive FC
- New Mexico United
- Real Monarchs SLC
Group D
- Austin Bold FC
- OKC Energy FC
- Rio Grande Valley FC
- San Antonio FC
- FC Tulsa
USL will also be allowing 5 substitutes for the remainder of the 2020 season, usable at up to 3 opportunities during a match as well as half time.
The groups for the Eastern Conference and the format for League One are expected in the coming days.