There was quite a buzz generated in the Lexington soccer community this week when I reported the USL is considering Lexington as a founding franchise in its new professional third division. The story appeared Friday on Kentucky.com and in Saturday’s Lexington Herald-Leader.
The league won’t begin play until 2019, so details about who, when and where were sketchy. But the USL was keen to get the word out about its interest in Lexington.
After USL vice president for USLD3 Steven Short met with select parties on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning in Lexington, a public relations firm reached out to the Herald-Leader about whether we would be interested in breaking the story.
It was a unique and somewhat odd experience. They seemed to want to make sure I would write about it before they connected me with an executive. They even asked for some sample questions. Would almost never do that, but I played along.
The biggest question is whether there are enough moneyed folks in Lexington who love soccer to form an ownership group. Short said he was encouraged by the visit, but did not offer any clues as to who might be a part of such a deal.
Short did not tweet about the Lexington visit until a day after he left, thanking the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association, the city of Lexington, VisitLex.com, the Legends and the Bluegrass Sports Commission.
The answer to where the team could play seemed a much safer assumption. Lexington Legends president Andy Shea gushed about the possibility of putting more dates on the Whitaker Bank Ballpark schedule.
Short continued his tour of potential franchise cities through the weekend, tweeting about Knoxville, Tenn., and Asheville, N.C. More cities would be confirmed in a few days, Short said.
It does not appear likely there will be much more breaking news on this front for a while, but look to the fall for firmer details on how the league and a Lexington team might be formed.
