MLB invests in AUSL: Everything to know about professional women’s softball league

Major League Baseball is finally backing a professional women’s softball league, putting its backing and influence behind the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, which will debut this summer with four teams touring around the country.

MLB announced Thursday morning — which also happened to be, by no coincidence, the start of the NCAA Women’s College World Series — that it was purchasing an equity stake in AUSL. According to ESPN, MLB’s stake in AUSL is more than 20 percent. MLB will also help with marketing and content distribution.

It’s the first time MLB has ever invested in a professional softball league.

“Major League Baseball’s investment in the AUSL,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement, “represents an opportunity to support softball’s long-term growth and expand our engagement with these outstanding athletes and their fans.”

The commissioner of AUSL is Kim Ng, a trailblazer for women in baseball who previously served as the general manager of the Miami Marlins from 2020 to 2023, making her the first woman to serve in that position in MLB.

“This agreement reflects our confidence in Kim Ng’s leadership, the AUSL vision and the incredible talent of its athletes,” Manfred said. “During this extraordinarily exciting time for women’s sports, we want softball to thrive.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the inaugural AUSL season…

Opening Day is on June 7 with games in Rosemont, Illinois, and Wichita, Kansas.

The four teams — the Bandits, Talons, Blaze and Volts — will each play 24 games through July 23. The two teams with the best records will then meet in the AUSL Championship, a three-game series to be played in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, from July 26-28.

The four-team league will make stops in 10 cities. In addition to Rosemont, Wichita and Tuscaloosa, AUSL will play in Sulphur, Louisiana; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Norman, Oklahoma; Omaha, Nebraska; Seattle, Washington; Salt Lake City, Utah; and Round Rock, Texas, during the regular season.

After the championship, AUSL will then hold an All-Star Cup with games being played in Holly Springs and Greenville, North Carolina, and Rosemont, Illinois, in August. The game in Greenville will coincide with the Little League Softball World Series.

Select AUSL games will be broadcast on MLB Network and MLB.TV — the league’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. MLB Network will broadcast the season-opener in Wichita live at 7:30 p.m. ET.

A full broadcast schedule will be announced at a later date, but AUSL already has a 33-game deal with ESPN. Athletes Unlimited CEO and co-founder Jon Patricof told ESPN that all 72 AUSL games will appear on linear TV.

The AUSL held a draft in January with a pool of players who had already exhausted their college eligibility. Former Oklahoma State pitcher Lexi Kilfoyl was the first overall pick, going to the Bandits. Former UCLA pitcher Rachel Garcia, a two-time National Player of the Year, landed with the Volts.

A second draft was held earlier this month featuring current college players who won’t have NCAA eligibility after this college season. National Player of the Year Bri Ellis, the Arkansas slugger, was picked by the Talons, while Duke infielder Ana Gold was selected by the Blaze.

The oldest player in the league is 33-year-old pitcher Keilani Ricketts Tumanuvao, who was a two-time National Player of the Year and helped Oklahoma win a World Series in 2013. She just completed her first season as the pitching coach at the University of the Pacific.

Full rosters can be found here.

According to the league’s website, the average salary is $45,000, but players can earn up to $75,000.

In 2026, AUSL aims to expand into a city-based league instead of a touring one.