Happy Schedule Release Day

Hi again everybody. It's good to be back.

We're still waiting on an official announcement from Tormenta about who is coming back and who is a free agent from the 2024 squad and I'll have a reaction post on that once it's official from the club, but in the meantime, it's schedule release day.

I'm not privy to the details of the contract USL has with CBS and ESPN, but it does not appear to have a clause requiring both networks to simulcast the release of the schedule followed by a one-hour show breaking it down for fans. I'm going to assume that was the last thing the USL gave up in their negotiations with their broadcast partners. Maybe next time. 

And to be fair, there's not a lot we can tell from the schedule release other than when teams will be playing where. Like I said, Tormenta hasn't told us who is coming back next year, let alone what the squad will look like. Even if I had the ability to do so coherently, I couldn't say why this or that matchup is a good one or bad for for South Georgia as they don't have any players announced to say "FC Naples is a good matchup for the Ibises because of X, Y, or Z."

For the fourth time in five years, Tormenta will open at home. They'll welcome Richmond to Tormenta Stadium on March 8. No time is listed, but presumably it'll be a traditional 7:30 kickoff time. One week later the Ibises will welcome AV Alta FC to Statesboro as one of the five new clubs joining the league this year, along with Portland, Westchester, Naples and Texoma.

South Georgia will be at home for the entire month of March as they close out the month hosting defending champion Union Omaha before their first road game of the year at Chattanooga. For the season, Tormenta will have 17 home games, which includes a home-and-home with each of the other 13 clubs in USL League One and two home and two road games in a revamped Jägermeister Cup that will include USL Championship teams for the first time. There are an additional two home games of League One opponents, meaning there isn't a balanced schedule this year.

Tormenta will play Richmond and Knoxville twice at home while having to travel to face Greenville and Chattanooga on the road two times in 2025.

For the Cup games, Tormenta drew Greenville at home on April 26, a road match against Tampa Bay Rowdies on May 31, hosting Charleston Battery on June 28 in rematch of a thrilling 2024 US Open Cup match that saw Tormenta fall in the last minute in the Round of 32 and finishing out the group play with a trip to face Miami FC on July 26 in another rematch of an Open Cup game from last year that saw Tormenta come away with a 4-2 win.

This year Tormenta will have three mid-week games, one at home and two on the road, and two of which are right before Cup games. The first is June 25 when they host Naples just before their weekend clash with Charleston and the second is on July 23 in Madison before their trip to Miami. Not ideal for Cup preparation, but you play the schedule you have. The final one is on August 6 in Naples. I'm not sure what Naples and Tormenta have against playing each other on a weekend.

Last year Tormenta had a weird schedule in which they only played one home game in both June and July. Selfishly, that was actually helpful as covering Tormenta, W-League and taking a vacation and enjoy summer with my family was a lot, so I wasn't too disappointed about the lack of home games. 

Well, that and it's far too hot and humid in Statesboro in June and July to want to go sit in the bleachers and watch soccer, let alone actually play in it. All that stuff in the previous paragraph was me trying to cover for the fact that I don't want to go sit in the heat when I could just as easily sit at home and watch Tormenta play a road game from the comfort of my recliner and air conditioned home. 

You can see the full schedule here. 

South Georgia's busiest months, travel wise, are July and August where they'll play just three of 11 games at home, including a four-game road trip in August that will see them play up and down the east coast at Naples, Westchester, Richmond and Chattanooga. July's three-game road trip takes them from Omaha to Madison and then to Miami to close out the month.

In the past, Manager Ian Cameron hasn't put too much stock in the difficulties of traveling for a game. I can't find the exact quote in my notes, but he's said something along the lines of would you rather get paid to travel the country and play soccer or sit in an office all day? As someone who sits in an office all day, I'd much rather get to fly to Madison or Portland, Maine or even take a road trip to Greenville or Charlotte. But I do have a tree right outside my window, blocking any view I might otherwise have so who is really coming out on top? (The guys traveling the country, they're coming out on top!)

Which is to say that while schedule release day is fun and those looking to make a trip to some road games can start making plans, for the players and coaches, it doesn't change the task at hand. Now they just know where they'll be playing. Plan your road trips and vacations accordingly. We're getting closer to a new season.