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Major League Baseball is purchasing an equity stake in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, partnering with the fledgling league that is preparing for its first four-team season and plans to expand further in future years.
With annual women's sports revenues now in excess of $1 billion a year, the imprimatur of MLB helps establish the AUSL as a viable long-term entity in a sport that has seen multiple professional leagues fold. MLB's stake in the AUSL is more than 20%, according to a source, and the league will assist the AUSL in marketing and content distribution in addition to the financial component.
"It's a watershed moment for pro women's softball, pro women's sports," Athletes Unlimited CEO and co-founder Jon Patricof told ESPN. "This is a financial investment but also about a number of things that money can't buy."
While the NBA launched the WNBA in 1996 and owns around 60% of the league, no major men's North American professional sports league had made a significant post-creation investment in its women's counterpart. The AUSL is owned by Athletes Unlimited, which also runs women's basketball and volleyball leagues and has hosted softball events for the past five years in suburban Chicago. The AUSL will feature four teams and play in 12 locations this summer, and in 2026, it plans to establish teams based in cities.
"We think the time is right to get into the space with a credible partner," said Tony Reagins, MLB's chief baseball development officer. "We want this to be not good but great. We want to create more opportunities for young women. Now they have something to strive for that's going to be around."
Already the AUSL struck a deal with ESPN to broadcast 33 games this summer, and the partnership with MLB will air games on MLB Network -- including one on June 7, the league's opening day -- and MLB.tv. All 72 of the AUSL's games, Patricof said, will be on linear TV. Additionally, AUSL players will attend MLB's All-Star Game and postseason to help grow awareness about women's professional softball.
In 2002, MLB partnered with National Pro Fastpitch -- a league that existed for 18 years with limited media distribution -- but did not make a significant investment as it has with the AUSL.
"Obviously they believe in the opportunity that exists in the business of women's sports," Patricof said. "But also obviously see how important it is to support the sport at all levels. Hopefully, at some point, the AUSL can benefit MLB, but in the short term, it's very much about how MLB can benefit pro women's softball."
Discussions on a deal started in 2024, when the AUSL was connected with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and deputy commissioner for business and media Noah Garden. In April 2025, the AUSL hired Kim Ng -- the former Miami Marlins general manager who spent nearly a decade working under Manfred -- as the league's commissioner.
"We watched how they went about their business," Reagins said. "Very creative. They took some risks. And the leadership team was solid."
Though MLB will continue to support programs encouraging girls to play baseball, Reagins said, the size of softball audiences was impossible to ignore. The Women's College World Series has drawn strong ratings in recent years, and with AUSL drafting players from this college season to complement some of the sport's biggest names joining the league as advisers -- among them Jennie Finch, Cat Osterman and ESPN analyst Jessica Mendoza -- the AUSL hopes bringing together past and present leads to a better future for the sport.
"This is just getting started," Patricof said. "We've put all these pieces together, we launch June 7, but it's still incredibly early days in where we envision the AUSL going. We've got all the right pieces in place, and now it's a question of us executing, growing alongside our partners, the players, and really building what we think fans and athletes deserve."
