With the Utah Talons sweeping the Chicago Bandits in the championship series this past weekend, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League wrapped up its second full season of play.
Speaking to reporters on
Wednesday, AUSL commissioner Kim Ng and Athletes Unlimited CEO Jon Patricof could point to several statistics to make the case that 2026 was an incredibly successful year for the burgeoning professional softball league.
For example, ABC drew an average audience of 732,000 viewers for Game 1 of the championship series, making it the most-watched professional softball game on record. The AUSL also had 23 regular season sellouts and sold out both games of the championship series in College Station, Texas. Merchandise sales for the league increased by 110% and social media impressions grew by 97%.
All of those are great signs for the fledgling league which just completed its first season in which its teams were based in cities full-time, as opposed to the barnstorming touring model the AUSL used in 2025. As softball nears its return to the Summer Olympics in 2028, the AUSL is helping momentum build for the sport.
But Ng and the league’s leaders want to be careful with their approach to the league’s growth. Expansion will not be random or rapid.
Fans of the AUSL should expect to see the league remain at six teams in 2027 and in the same cities it played in this season.
“When we did these deals with these six markets, the intent was always to be there for the long term. So that is still our intention. We should be back in those six markets next year. I don't see anything changing there,” Ng said. “We want to make sure that the foundation of this league is extraordinarily solid, stable and is set for tremendous growth in the future.
“Expansion is there on the horizon, for sure. I can't tell you exactly when, but I would say for next year we're going to stay where we are.”
This past season, teams were based in Round Rock, Texas; Durham, North Carolina; Portland, Oregon; Oklahoma City, Chicago and Salt Lake City.
Ng did say there are some other areas of the AUSL that could change for next season.
“In the aftermath of the season, I think there are a lot of things that are on the table,” Ng said when asked about adding to the number of games played in a season. “Fans are asking for more softball. I think that speaks to the strength of the fan base. I think that speaks to the desire of the players. … For sure, we are thinking about more.”
The AUSL had more than 90 games distributed across ESPN platforms, CBS Sports Network and MLB Network this season where it was able to highlight established stars like Montana Fouts, rising rookies like Karlyn Pickens and comeback stories like Paige Sinicki. The league also brought in partners like Sephora and Adidas, and welcomed investments from the Milwaukee Brewers and Ryan Sanders Baseball.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Athletes Unlimited Softball League unlikely to expand in 2027, Kim Ng says
