Jonathan Lintner

@JonathanLintner

Wayne Estopinal can't wait to see how a town entrenched in college basketball and football reacts to the newest professional franchise coming soon to the local sports lineup.

Estopinal is announcing Wednesday that he is bringing professional outdoor soccer to Louisville next year — the Louisville City Football Club — and he's betting it will be a big success.

If it happens, it won't surprise Peter Wilt, the general manager of Indianapolis' Indy Eleven, a first-year soccer franchise that has led the league in attendance despite it's 0-5 record.

"The surprise is going to be to (Louisville residents) who are not too into the sport," Wilt said. "Their heads are going to be turned when Louisville Slugger Field is filled not only with a lot of people, but passionate fans. It's eye-opening.

"The excitement, the passion and the noise are different than any other sport."

Wilt, who has helped start five pro soccer teams, worked with local supporters last year who had a vision of bringing a team to Louisville. It's now come to fruition.

Estopinal confirmed Tuesday that his Louisville City Football Club is in final negotiations with the Triple-A Louisville Bats and the city to field a United Soccer Leagues Professional Division team next year. An announcement is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday at Slugger Field, where the USL Pro franchise will play home matches.

USL Pro is a growing third-tier league designated behind Major League Soccer and the Division II North American Soccer League, where Indy Eleven plays. Along with the transfer from Orlando to Louisville, expansion teams from St. Louis, Colorado Springs and Tulsa will join USL Pro in 2015.

Estopinal, a longtime minority owner in the Orlando City Soccer Club, started his push to relocate that franchise's USL Pro operation to Louisville late last year, when MLS included Orlando in its expansion plans. The impending deal includes a five-year affiliation between the two clubs, with four players per season shared by the parent to its minor league partner.

James O'Connor, an Orlando City player-assistant coach, will take on head-coaching duties for the Louisville franchise.

"I think it needs to be understood that this is a very new venture for Louisville, the city and the Bats," Estopinal said. "We're all working together. We're all learning each day how to do that. It's a very passionate sport."

The Louisville City FC group can hope for the same success in Indianapolis, where Indy Eleven has prospered despite failing to win a match.

"You want to create an almost tribal mentality so fans feel invested in the team," said Wilt. "I think it's really important ownership and management really be accessible and allow the fans and all the other stakeholders … to have a say and a role in the birth and growth of the team from the beginning."

The supporters group that talked with Wilt about bringing a franchise to Louisville is now called The Coopers, named for the makers of bourbon barrels, and has tallied 2,000 season-ticket pledges for Louisville City FC.

The social media-savvy Coopers fit into a demographic Estopinal is targeting for Louisville City FC fans — millennials — and the owner said he couldn't have lured a franchise without them.

"I wouldn't want to," he said. "I want the passion. ... Once we're playing, I'm sure I'll hear from them or our coach will hear from them on many aspects of what we should be doing. That's the nature of soccer."

News of the official announcement came as a relief to Coopers president Taylor Sorrels. He, like many local soccer supporters, spends weekends at local sports bars, drumming up interest in soccer and growing their group.

The Coopers may have to replace their blue and yellow scarves, though. Louisville City FC will retain Orlando City's colors, with a gold fleur-de-lis in front of a purple bourbon barrel on the logo.

"Now we can do what a supporters group should — support a club — as opposed to, 'Please notice us and come start one here,'" Sorrels said. "It's going to be a significant and welcome shift in terms of what our role in this thing is. ... USL soccer is better than no soccer. We obviously have aspiration to get bigger things."

So does Estopinal.

He believes MLS will expand again and, like with Orlando City, a successful Louisville City FC could enter those conversations. In three seasons, Orlando City has won a pair of USL Pro championships and last year drew more than 20,000 fans to its title match.

Estopinal said city officials may be willing to support a soccer-specific stadium by 2018 should Louisville City FC reach certain attendance thresholds still under discussion.

Chris Poynter, a spokesperson for mayor Greg Fischer, said that because the Louisville City FC deal was not yet official, "It would be premature for us to comment on anything."

"I think if we're really looking at where Louisville might land a major league team in any sport, soccer is probably the best opportunity," Estopinal said. "It will be an interesting pursuit. It's not the end game at all. It certainly would be great if we could do that, but it's not a situation where we absolutely have to."

Jonathan Lintner can be reached at (502) 582-4199; follow him on Twitter @JonathanLintner.

About The Louisville City Football Club

• The Louisville City Football Club naming follows a tradition started by Phil Rawlins, owner and president of the Orlando City Soccer Club with which the local team will be affiliated. Rawlins, a United Kingdom native, was owner and director of the English Premier League's Stoke City Football Club before coming to the United States.

Louisville City FC will start without a mascot, Estopinal said, to promote the Louisville soccer brand. The team's logo maintains Orlando City's colors but pays homage to its new host town, with a purple bourbon barrel placed behind a gold Fleur-de-lis.

• Orlando City, which was selected for Major League Soccer expansion last year, will affiliate with USL Pro partner Louisville. The clubs have signed a five-year deal that includes sharing four developmental players with the MLS franchise.

• Louisville City has set preliminary ticket prices at $10 to $25 per game and $240 to $420 for season tickets, based on an expected 15-game home schedule. Tickets go on sale to the general public after Wednesday's 2 p.m. announcement at LouisvilleCityFC.com.