Racing Louisville made their NWSL debut in the 2021 season, soon after the construction of Lynn Family Stadium was completed. It’s a great stadium in a vacation-friendly area and it also happens to be the first stadium we ever flew to for an away game (the 2021 NWSL championship). We had a blast then, and it sent us down a path of flying out annually for games there, which is where the idea for this guidebook began.
The Racing Louisville squad has always felt like a real-life version of the team in the 1970s movie The Bad News Bears. Most players joined from expansion drafts where the club got to pluck random players from other squads, making their inaugural season feel like an island of misfit toys-type situation. As fans of the sport, we loved the plucky attitude of the new team as they tried to jell and win together. Racing Louisville struggled in their first couple years, but the team showed a lot of heart and grit in the process, and we instantly fell in love with their can-do attitude.
Louisville is a place we’ve visited over half a dozen times in the past decade and we plan to continue visiting often since it’s such a fun place to be. Let’s look at how you too can enjoy a trip out to see a match there.
Stadium Information
Lynn Family Stadium, with a max capacity around 15,000, features a steep-sided seating design with a main concourse located behind the seating area. For most seats, they’re reached by climbing up a long flight of stairs from the ground level. Seating areas are mostly covered from sun and rain thanks to a canopy on three sides, with an open area behind the western-end goal set up as a standing-room supporters section.
Beyond the pitch’s western edge, there’s a sizable fan zone with plenty of room for food trucks, sponsor tents, and a futsal pitch that kids typically play full games before, during, and after Racing Louisville matches.
Where to sit
Seats along the southern side, from sections 101 to 111 and 201 to 210, will typically have shade during most afternoon and early evening matches, and will be the best seats in the house.
The best seats in the house are sections 101-111 and 201-210 for shade and relief from summer heat.
Given the stadium’s layout, it’s worth noting that with the sun setting in the west, even matches with a 7 p.m. kickoff during midsummer will see direct sun if you’re sitting in sections 116 to 121 and 217 to 221. The goalie who has to defend from the “Estopinal End” will have sun directly in their eyes, which honestly feels a bit unfair to players on both teams (Racing Louisville doesn’t always get to defend from the other side; it seems a coin flip decides who gets which end at each match).
After 8 p.m. at most summer matches, the sun will not be much of a problem. But keep in mind that Louisville is in the South and can get quite hot and humid, even though the club usually schedules summer matches with later start times closer to sunset. If there’s a heat advisory in the area, they may postpone games by a couple hours to wait for temps to further cool down, and usually a game or two each season gets delayed for several hours due to lightning and thunderstorms.
- Sections 101–111 and 201–210 on the south side stay shaded during most afternoon and early-evening matches — they're the best seats in the house
- Avoid sections 116–121 and 217–221 for kickoffs before 8 p.m. — the setting sun blasts directly into the Estopinal End
- Three sides have a canopy covering the seating; the west end is open standing-room for the supporters section
- Accessible seating is available at both goal ends and all four corners, with shade structures at the western-side corners — the best ADA setup in the league
What to eat and drink
Lynn Family Stadium does a great job bringing food and drink from local Louisville bars and restaurants into the arena. There are a few concession spots with standard fare like hot dogs and hamburgers, and there’s pizza from the Papa John’s chain (headquartered in Louisville). There’s a local tiki bar serving rum and daiquiri drinks and several bars featuring pours from local bourbon distilleries. There’s a gelato stand from a local Louisville shop as well as real honest-to-goodness ice cream from an area chain.
In a world where a can of beer at most NWSL venues can cost $15, Louisville does something we haven’t seen anywhere else: they sell $2 beers until 30 minutes before kickoff.
It’s cool to see a venue reward people for getting to the game early with a deal that saves everyone a few bucks.
Team merchandise, accessibility, restrooms, and pre-game activities
Louisville has a large brick-and-mortar store along the eastern edge of the stadium that frequently has so many people inside you have to wait in lines to keep it from exceeding safe capacity. There, the team offers jerseys, T-shirts, and hats and there are often sale items specific to each game. Like other clubs, there are also temporary stores scattered throughout the stadium selling Racing Louisville team items for fans.
We’ve attended the NWSL championship match here as well as games that were nearly sold out, but the attendance levels are currently around 5,000 to 7,000 people at most matches. While we’ve seen sporadic lines at restrooms before, for the past couple years we’ve noticed mostly no lines at halftime thanks to the way restrooms are situated around the stadium.
Between seating sections, where restrooms are found, the stadium has three separate sets of facilities instead of just two. This means they can “double up” the number of women’s or men’s rooms in different areas of the stadium and we found it to be one of the only stadiums that didn’t suffer from long lines for women at halftime.
Pre-game activities are some of the best in the league at Louisville. It’s the only stadium that encourages tailgating in their parking lots starting as early as 10 a.m. on matchdays, and yes, that includes days with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff. There are discounted beers, futsal games on a small pitch, and lots of sponsor tents and local restaurants offering food from trucks an hour before kickoff.
There are accessible seating areas at both goal ends as well as at all four corners of the pitch. Louisville even goes the extra mile here by putting up shade structures at both corner areas along the western side. Since the accessible spaces are at the ground level, there’s no need for steps or elevators either.
Thanks to this stadium’s thoughtful accommodations, we saw fans with a wider variety of disabilities enjoying matches here than any other place in the league, which should be commended.
Pre-game, in-game, and post-game vibes
Pre-game vibes are relaxed and welcoming with plenty to see and do before games. We were happy to see plenty of options for kids, with the futsal field for them to play games on, along with an acre or so of open space to run around and hang out before matches.
In-game crowds are vibrant even though crowds are smaller than most venues. About the only drawback to the stadium’s design is that during games, staff usually close off the large walkway that sits between the locker room and the pitch itself. Instead of a tunnel between locker rooms and the pitch, the players walk across the blocked main concourse to get down to the field.
It feels like a throwback to how horse racing arenas operate in Kentucky, where people are stopped while walking around the grandstands, so that horses who are about to race can walk across before the ropes come down and people can resume walking around.
The first couple years we attended games here, staff would block crowds with ropes for just a few minutes before the game and at the half, but the last two trips we took the ropes basically stayed up for most of the game, making it difficult to move around one entire side of the stadium. You can walk up and around this closed area by climbing stairs, but it adds a few minutes to navigate the crowd that’s also trying to do the same thing during a short 15-minute halftime.
There are large supporter areas at both goals with lots of posters, banners, and people playing musical instruments to keep songs and chants going for most of the match. The hometown crowd is quite vocal about their support for Racing Louisville, though we’ve been nothing but welcomed when we’ve attended games wearing visiting team jerseys.
Post-game vibes are chill, as there’s no rush to get everyone out of the stadium and it’s fairly easy to interact with players down near the benches on the south side of the stadium. For the 2024 season, the Racing Louisville team also kept the bar open at the western end of the pitch for an hour after games, and featured one of the players showing up to hang out and meet fans. It was a unique thing we’ve seen nowhere else, so kudos to Racing Louisville for trying new ways to connect players with their fanbase.
- Tailgating is encouraged in the parking lots starting as early as 10 a.m. on matchdays — the only NWSL stadium that leans fully into it, even for night kickoffs
- The pre-game fan zone has a futsal pitch for kids, plenty of open space to roam, food trucks, and sponsor tents an hour before kickoff
- A quirk: staff block the main concourse near the locker-room walkway for player access to the pitch, at every break in the action, so you may need to do a detour up and around on the stairs
- Post-game is refreshingly chill — no rush to clear the stadium, easy player interactions near the south-side benches, and the west-end bar stays open for an hour with a Louisville player hanging out in a meet-and-greet
Getting there
Flying in
Direct flights to Louisville are fairly easy along the East Coast, but if you’re coming from the West, you’ll likely have to connect through other airports. Overall, it’s a fairly small, easy airport to get into and out of and we’ve never had any problems in all our travels to Louisville.
Renting a car or going car-free
We’ve done trips both with a car and without and if you want to sample things from all around the area, you’ll definitely need a car to make that possible. If you’re spending a short weekend mostly in downtown Louisville, there’s enough to do there so you don’t necessarily need a car, as most places are walkable, but you will be limited to things in the downtown area.
Driving in
Driving to games isn’t too difficult. Buying parking passes was easy to do in the SeatGeek app before the game, and even the closest, most expensive lot was less than $25. Given the much higher parking prices we’ve seen at other venues, it was a welcome sight.
Taking public transit
There isn’t really much public transit to speak of, as buses only come once every 30 minutes and mostly stick to the main downtown arteries, requiring a one-mile walk from the closest stop to reach the stadium. If you’re staying downtown, the stadium is about a mile or two from most hotels. We’ve walked to games in spring, summer, and fall and it’s always been a pleasant stroll along the riverfront, but on the coldest days we’d probably opt for a Lyft or Uber drop off.
Where to stay
We typically stay downtown somewhat close to the stadium. The Aloft Hotel downtown and AC Hotel in Butchertown are two of our favorite places to stay, each with a good bar, comfy rooms, and decent pricing. There’s also the classic Galt House right on the river downtown that we’ve heard good things about.
What to do in Louisville (besides watch soccer)
Louisville is famous for things like bourbon, horse racing, and baseball bats, and you can definitely enjoy any combination of those three things here, possibly on the same day.
Since we usually stay downtown, we’ve enjoyed a couple glass-blowing studios there, sampled a few different bourbon distilleries, and have taken the Louisville Slugger Factory Tour on more than one trip. There are lots of downtown restaurants and bars though we typically skip the ones on Main Street because they’re kinda touristy. We do love the Sidebar at Whiskey Row for great drinks and food. If you’re looking for morning coffee, any of the Heine Brothers locations across the city should have you covered.
On the east side of downtown, closer to the stadium is our favorite part of Louisville classically known as Butchertown or more recently as the NuLu District. There are loads of great restaurants and shops worth checking out and there seems to be great coffee on every corner. Our favorite spots to grab a bite to eat are bar Vetti, La Bodeguita De Mima, and Garage Bar. The best coffee spot we’ve found in the whole city is Quills.
Something to keep in mind when dining in Louisville is the surprisingly high quality of meats and fish; that’s due to Louisville being our national hub for UPS, the shipping company. When you’re in a great steakhouse like Le Moo, and you see they’re offering cuts of fresh Wagyu beef, the chances that your steak was actually sourced from Japan are quite high. You’ll find great fish at high-end restaurants, even though the city is hundreds of miles inland, thanks to food often landing in Louisville before it heads to somewhere else like New York or Las Vegas.
Further out from Louisville there are limestone caverns to explore at Mammoth Caves National Park, which is about 90 minutes south (and strangely, in the central time zone so you’ll “gain” an hour when you drive there). It’s a busy spot though and you’ll want to reserve tour tickets before you head there on weekends.
Most bourbon and whiskey distilleries, where they actually make, store, and bottle their wares, are found around Lexington, Kentucky, which is about 90 minutes east of Louisville. We’ve done guided all-day bourbon distillery tours and even though we’re not huge fans of that kind of liquor, it’s a fascinating way to spend a day seeing how they take ingredients, make them into a mash that’s cooked down and stored in barrels to sit for many years. Across the board, we found the grounds at every distillery to be beautiful and relaxing and it was fun to see how they do this kind of work, as it’s often still a non-mechanized, old-school operation.
- The Louisville Slugger Factory Tour is worth doing at least once — watching MLB bat blanks get turned on a lathe is surprisingly fascinating
- NuLu (aka Butchertown) on the east side of downtown is the best neighborhood to wander — great coffee, shops, and restaurants everywhere
- Louisville's UPS hub means the city has surprisingly excellent steak and seafood — high-end spots source genuine Japanese Wagyu and fresh fish despite being hundreds of miles inland
- Bourbon distillery tours are clustered about 90 minutes east near Lexington — a full day trip, but worth it even if you're not a whiskey drinker
Lynn Family Stadium is a great cozy arena with affordable prices on everything from food to parking. Racing Louisville is a fun team to watch that also happens to play in a great area to visit. Do yourself a favor next season and book a trip to Louisville to sample everything the South has to offer in a great place while catching a match against your hometown squad.
