For the first time since its founding in 2020, Athletes Unlimited (AU) is organizing a traditional team-based league meant to be “Major League Baseball for softball,” in the words of former Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng, the senior advisor of the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).
AU has annually hosted weeks-long competitions for pro women’s sports, including softball, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse, with no coaches or GMs involved. A player, as opposed to a team, would win the so-called championship for a given season based on an unorthodox points system, with all games held at one location. Softball is the first sport for which AU is implementing a team format.
The AUSL, scheduled to start in June 2025, is set to facilitate a 30-game slate for each of its four teams. The sites of said games will vary across to-be-determined touring locations, meant to help inform the league’s leadership on which cities might be most receptive to supporting a professional softball team in the long term. Starting in 2026, the AUSL plans to station up to six teams in different cities.
At least 30 AUSL games will be exclusively broadcasted on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Softball icon Jennie Finch, an Olympic gold medalist, is one of four supporting advisors to Ng, whose tenure as Marlins GM from 2020 to 2023 made her the first female GM in North America’s big four sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). Ng believes the establishment of a premier softball league has been long overdue. But perhaps there is no better time than now, given the momentum stirred in recent years by sports such as women’s college basketball and the WNBA.
“There are people every day saying, ‘On Saturday night, I was watching the WNBA game with my 10-year-old son.’ … Stuff we didn’t think would happen for quite some time has all of a sudden just become so much more mainstream,” Ng said.
Ng hopes AUSL will serve as a training ground for the best softball players in the world ahead of the sport’s return at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The AUSL’s formation was actually announced in June – you can see their press release here; Ng joined Athletes Unlimited a few weeks later – but that Athletic story from Thanksgiving week was the first news I’d seen of it. I will say, I enjoy watching the Women’s College World Series – the all-day coverage that you get in the opening rounds is as much a joy as March Madness. That they already have a broadcasting deal with ESPN bodes well. This is indeed a great and opportune moment for women’s sports and I’m rooting for them. If they have a game in Houston as part of their traveling tour initial season, I’ll buy tickets to see them. Anyone else interested in this startup?
Bring it ! I’d much rather see players playing for the love of the game, regardless of salary, not for the love of making $150K/game (whether you play or not, whether you play good or not).
Bregman, I’m looking at you.