MLB invests in Athletes Unlimited Softball League ahead of June debut

Major League Baseball is investing in Athletes Unlimited to support its softball league that will debut next month, its first comprehensive partnership with a professional women's sports circuit.

MLB said Thursday it was making a strategic investment in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League of an undisclosed amount for operational costs and a commitment to help it gain visibility. MLB will assist with content, marketing and sales, events, distribution, editorial, and digital and social platforms.

Support will include marketing the AUSL and its athletes during MLB's All-Star Game and throughout the postseason along with broadcasts on the MLB Network and streams on MLB.TV.

''This is something we're really excited about,'' MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Associated Press. ''We studied the space hard. We think it's a real opportunity and we're excited to be involved.''

Athletes Unlimited has featured softball since 2020, when it unveiled a unique format that crowned an individual champion. The company will launch a four-team league starting June 7 with the Bandits and Talons opening with a three-game series in Rosemont, Illinois, and the Blaze and Volts a three-game set at Wichita, Kansas. The four teams will play 24 games each, touring to 12 cities, and the top two teams will compete in the best-of-three AUSL Championship from July 26-28 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A 21-game AUSL All-Star Cup will follow in August.

A traditional city-based league will start in 2026, when the AUSL plans to expand to six teams, according to AU co-founder Jon Patricof.

''This is really something that is going to be sustainable and people can be professional softball players and that is all they do,'' U.S. national team infielder Sis Bates said. ''This can be your full-time career, which is incredible.''

Manfred said MLB considered launching its own softball league.

''We thought rather than starting on our own and competing, that finding a place where we could invest and grow a business was a better opportunity,'' Manfred said.

Former Miami Marlins general manager and MLB senior vice president Kim Ng joined AUSL as an adviser and was promoted to commissioner in April.

MLB's involvement could drive softball toward advanced analytics in the same manner as it has in baseball.

''TrackMan is in some of the stadiums that we're going to be in,'' she said, referring to the radar system behind MLB Statcast. ''We've signed on with a number of different analytics groups.''

MLB was encouraged by growth of the WNBA, National Women's Soccer League and NCAA women's basketball. MLB hasn't ruled out later involvement in women's baseball.

'What's really exciting about this is us committing not just a financial investment but resources and our time and sort of the power that is MLB," MLB chief marketing officer Uzma Rawn Dowler said.

Patricof said MLB's assistance to boost the AUSL's visibility is as important as the financial investment.

''They're committed to really elevating the AUSL,'' he said. ''It's probably about one of the most difficult things for any sports league to do which is to get visibility and break through to new audiences, and I think MLB is already doing that for the AUSL, and there's going to be a lot more to come.''

Women's pro softball leagues and independent teams have come and gone over the years. The AUSL hopes for stability and has softball greats Cat Osterman, Jennie Finch, Jessica Mendoza and Natasha Watley as advisers.

MLB already supports several women's softball and baseball initiatives, including a partnership with USA Softball and operation of the MLB Develops girls baseball pipeline. It is not involved with the Women's Professional Baseball League, which plans to launch in 2026 as the first pro baseball league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — of "A League of Their Own" fame — folded in 1954.

''I think it's more long-term thing,'' MLB chief development officer Tony Reagins said of women's baseball. "The talent pool, the infrastructure, the organizations on the softball side was ahead of the baseball side."

Manfred sees a bright future ahead for AUSL.

''We hope that we will end up with a league that is sustainable on its own, a good investment for us, and a partner in growing diamond sports internationally,'' he said.

Patricof said the partnership with MLB and the already existing relationship between AU and USA Softball will combine to help give the AUSL stability.

''As we announce MLB coming into the fold formally into what we're doing with the AUSL, you really see a full alignment of this sport behind this league, and that I think is exciting for everyone,'' Patricof said. ''People who have sat on the sidelines or maybe have watched pro softball from a little bit of distance — everybody's now jumped in, and I think that is an exciting moment for people who've been around this sport.''

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB