Photo Copyright EM Dash for USA TODAY Sports
In many ways, Racing Louisville’s timing could not have been more perfect.
When they were announced as the newest expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League in October 2019, interest in women’s soccer was still booming after the World Cup, but demand for franchises hadn’t yet materialized.
Even with robust interest in expansion still a year or so away, moving into a small market like Louisville raised some eyebrows. It didn’t help that the franchise was awarded by the NWSL’s outgoing president, Amanda Duffy, a former employee of the Louisville ownership group. But, that ownership group had a highly successful men’s side — Louisville City in the USL Championship — and a brand new stadium and planned facilities that would surpass anything that was currently available in the NWSL so there was a lot that made sense.
Louisville got the franchise at a bargain basement price of less than $2 million, but almost immediately after they started play in 2021, interest…
