Louisville City FC and iHeartMedia on Tuesday announced a landmark broadcast partnership for the 2017 pro soccer season including coverage of home and away games.
The broadcasts, which consist of pre-game and post-game programming, will air on NewsRadio 840 WHAS (WHAS-AM), Cards Radio 790 KRD (WKRD-AM) or Talk Radio 1080 (WKJK-AM). This marks the first full-season media rights agreement for LouCity as it joins other local iHeartMedia sports partners: the University of Louisville, University of Kentucky and Louisville Bats.
Additionally, LouCity’s weekly Soccer City radio show, presented by Mulloy Commercial Real Estate, has been extended through the end of 2017. The program airs Saturdays on 790 KRD from 9-10 a.m.
“Soccer has taken this city by storm, and we’re excited to be a part of LouCity’s continued growth,” said iHeartMedia Sports Director Tony Vanetti.
T.J. Walker (play-by-play) and Jeff Milby (color commentary) will call the action on LouCity game broadcasts.
Walker, who announced the video broadcast of LouCity’s first-ever game in 2015, hosts a daily sports talk show on 1450 WXVW and covers University of Kentucky recruiting for Rivals.com. Milby took official statistics for LouCity during its first two seasons and contributed to the club’s official website.
In addition to his duties on the broadcasts, Milby recently took over as host of Soccer City, an all-encompassing program that covers the game on local, national and world levels; its focus is on LouCity’s pursuit of a United Soccer League championship.
The new broadcast agreement also includes coverage of LouCity games on the iHeartRadio mobile app and expanded promotional announcements across several iHeartMedia radio stations.
“We’re pleased to partner with iHeartMedia to bring local broadcasts of all our USL games to the surrounding region,” said LouCity Chairman John Neace. “To join a lineup that includes University of Louisville and Kentucky athletics speaks to Louisville City FC’s rapid growth. We hope our fans take advantage of the broadcasts for increased coverage of the club and anticipate one day soon they’ll be coming to you live from a stadium of our own.”
LouCity’s league, the USL, was recently bumped to Division 2 status by U.S. Soccer, only one level below Major League Soccer. The club enters 2017 off back-to-back runs to the USL’s Eastern Conference Final and returned the core of a roster that was two wins from a championship.
The 32-game regular season starts the weekend of March 24-26 with the full USL schedule due out soon.
