Major League Baseball announced a strategic investment in Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) on Thursday ahead of the league’s launch next month. This is MLB’s first investment in a women’s professional league.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and AUSL commissioner Kim Ng joined CBS Mornings on Thursday to discuss what Ng called a “watershed moment for women’s sports.”
“I think this is an incredible step for both sports,” Ng told CBS Mornings. “Having worked at Major League Baseball for 10 years and having led that softball division, we were always trying to connect with the women’s side, with women’s college softball. So to now be able to come and have Major League Baseball support women’s pro softball and that landscape is so meaningful to me and so many young women and girls playing the sport.”
In 2020, Ng became the first woman to serve as general manager for an MLB club. Ng also held front office roles with the Dodgers, Yankees, White Sox, and Major League Baseball before accepting the role of AUSL commissioner last month.
AUSL is Athletes Unlimited’s fifth league since launching in 2020, when the organization launched an innovative single-site softball model. AUSL will operate as a…
