MLB Invests Eight-Figures in AUSL, Believes Rising Tide Lifts All Diamond Sports Boats

MLB Invests Eight-Figures in AUSL, Believes Rising Tide Lifts All Diamond Sports Boats

Major League Baseball announced a partnership with Athletes United Softball League in late May. 

The strategic alliance includes an eight-figure investment in the fledging softball circuit via its Baseball Endowment L.P. MLB has also committed to leveraging its marketing and promotional muscle —and platforms— to increase eyeballs on AUSL.

Baseball believes a rising tide lifts all boats; that efforts to support professional softball will drive baseball fandom. There are ‘significant overlaps’ between supporters of the two diamond sports.

“Together, we think one-plus-one makes five,” Noah Garden (deputy commissioner, Major League Baseball) said. “And if the [days following the announcement were an indication], the opportunity [for softball] is as big as we think.”

Blinkfire Analytics reports earned social media posts referencing AUSL are receiving 44x more engagement since news of baseball’s involvement broke. AUSL’s own social channels across Instagram YouTube, X, and Facebook have seen a 33% increase in total followers (including a +175% lift on FB) and a 900% increase in daily engagement between

MLB’s investment in AUSL is its single largest financial commitment in softball to date. It’s also the league’s first in an emerging sports property. 

But baseball has long championed its sister sport. 

“We've supported USA softball [and] efforts at the youth level forever,” Garden said (see: PLAY BALL, Nike RBI program, MLB Develops).

PLAY BALL debuted in Commissioner Manfred’s first season (2015). Participation in baseball and softball amongst kids between the ages of 6-17 is up more than 22% since. 

Like those investment’s, MLB’s latest play is participation driven. The league believes that the existence of a thriving pro softball league will keep more girls engaged with diamond sports longer.

“You have so many young girls and women that play, but [they’ve never had] the ability to aspire to become a professional in a way that many other athletes do,” Garden said.

It’s fair to wonder why MLB never attempted to change that before. 

But the league is focused on growing baseball. Building a second property, from scratch, as a side endeavor, was always going to be an uphill battle.

MLB knew its money would be better spent ‘supercharging’ an existing property and was convinced one would eventually come along.

“When youth participation is as large as it is [in diamond sports], you know there's a love [for the game] out there,” Garden said. 

More kids between the ages of 6-12 play baseball and softball than any other team sport. 

It’s only logical that opportunistic entrepreneurs would eventually try and convert that participation into fandom of a pro league.

But AUSL was the first that MLB looked at, throughout all the years, with the potential to be as successful as it envisions.

Its timing is right. There’s currently a wave of momentum behind women’s sports.

Softball has also seemingly arrived on a national stage. Game 3 of the 2025 Women’s College World Series was the most-watched NCAA softball game of all-time. It drew an average audience of 2.4 million viewers.

And Athletes Unlimited has constructed a strong foundation for the nascent league.

“They have a media deal with ESPN, [so] they have visibility for their product. They [sold] out a lot of the stadiums they do for the events they put on. [And] they have great talent, probably the best [professional softball players] on their teams and in their league,” Garden said.

That matters. Americans generally prefer to watch the best talent.

 "When [the top players participate], fandom increases,” Garden said. “When they [don't, properties tend to] struggle.”

AUSL is well positioned for long-term success with MLB’s support.

And baseball is “going to put [its] full effort behind [the league],” Garden said.

MLB Network will air games excluded from AUSL’s existing media rights agreements, and the league is now covering softball on MLB.com and across its digital platforms. 

It will also help to ‘professionalize’ AUSL’s on-field product (think: assistance with baseball ops, lending use of technology that supports the generation of advanced stats). 

And “on the business side, we’ll help [the league with] everything from merch to sponsorship and advertising,” Garden said.

Remember, MLB’s sales team is already selling across MiLB and for the LLWS; so, it has relationships with partners that want to invest in diamond sports writ large. 

AUSL “will [simply] be another piece in [their] arsenal and [we’ll use softball to] bring new partners into [our] sport [too],” Garden said.

MLB isn’t particularly concerned if it’s successful with the latter. At least, not right now.

“When [we] look at the next three to five years, [we’re focused on] reach,” Garden said. “If we get reach right, and we expose [softball] to more [people] and create more fandom, the business will come.”

It always follows the eyeballs.

AUSL debuted with four centrally owned clubs earlier this month. It’s planning to expand the number of teams and games played —and transition from its current barnstorming approach to a city-based model— in 2026.

The goal is “to expand the amount of people that can watch [pro softball] live [or on television],” Garden said.

The belief is the more people who see AUSL, the more that will look to check it out in person. The on-field product is strong, and softball is paced right.

And once the league has a fan in-venue, it can begin to build true affinity for its teams, players, and the sport.

“Our number one goal at baseball is always to get you into the stadium,” Garden said. “We feel like once you walk through that turn-style, sit in the stands, and you consume a game, you are going to be a fan for life. It’s the same playbook here.”

Some of those fans may just turn into baseball supporters too. One of the drivers of MLB’s investment was the brand connection/exposure it will get to the AUSL audience.

MLB think that AUSL, in time, could become more successful than the other women’s pro leagues in the U.S.—at least, at the gate. 

 "When you look at the map, [MLB has] 30 franchises, but then there's 120 [more] in minor league baseball," Garden said. 

Collectively, they sold more than 102 million tickets last year. The demand for diamond sports is evident.

“So, what could [AUSL] do there? Who knows? Sky's the limit [in terms of ticket sales],” Garden said.

It’s worth pointing out that WNBA and NWSL franchises currently play in much larger venues than AUSL clubs. The largest softball stadium in the country seats just 13,000. The presumption is AUSL teams will eventually play more home games than clubs in other leagues.

The expectation is increased interest in a complimentary bat and ball sport will benefit baseball long-term. And if AUSL becomes a robust live entertainment business, the league’s investment in the property should pay off many times over too. 

For context, the WNBA’s Cleveland Rockers are expected to pay a ~$250mm expansion fee. The NWSL awarded Denver a franchise for record $110 million earlier this year. 

It should be noted that Athletes Unlimited currently operates AUSL under a single-entity ownership model. The company maintains it will keep that structure for the foreseeable future.

It remains unclear if/how that will evolve in the years ahead as fandom grows. But selling franchises to ownership groups with venues in existing MLB or MiLB markets would seem to make sense.

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