Hayes Gardner | Louisville Courier Journal

Louisville Courier Journal

The National Women’s Soccer League team headed to Louisville in 2021, originally dubbed Proof Louisville FC, may receive a new name.

“It’s being reconsidered,” Louisville City FC President Brad Estes said.

The moniker, reported in November, was a nod to the city and state’s bourbon industry, but the club is exploring other options. There is not yet a date set for when a decision will be reached on the team’s name.

“We just wanted to involve our supporters more than we did before,” Estes said. “We wanted to engage all of our stakeholders, really, everybody in the community, supporters, owners, players, we just wanted to do a more robust process.”

The NWSL is the highest professional women’s soccer league in the United States. When the Louisville club begins play next year, it will become the first major league team to call Louisville home since the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association, which last played in 1976.

Hayes Gardner/Courier Journal

The club will play in Lynn Family Stadium, the Butchertown venue which was supposed to host its first-ever LouCity home match on April 11. The coronavirus has postponed the 2020 USL Championship season, like everything else. LouCity won its opening match of the season before the coronavirus stalled play.

“I think the next few weeks are going to be very critical to see how this virus dies down and what the numbers are doing,” Estes said.

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Plenty of hype has surrounded the 2020 season, LouCity’s first with a soccer-specific home in the brand new stadium. The USL Championship has not announced when it may return to action as the entire country reacts to the coronavirus.

“We are still strong,” Estes said. “We built this strong, sustainable organization here, and while we’re on hiatus at the moment, when we come back, we will come back just as strong as we were before, and we look forward to seeing our fans.”