A new professional softball league built around player-ownership and a unique scoring system is coming to Chicago this August.

Co-founded by John Patricof, the former president of MLS club NYCFC, and Jonathan Soros, Athletes Unlimited is hoping to capitalize on both softball’s national popularity and a growing trend toward athlete empowerment. Both founders believe that women’s sports have been undervalued relative to their potential and that there are ways to improve upon the traditional model of professional sports, which relies on team owners and city-based allegiances.

Rather than play in multiple cities or venues, Athletes Unlimited will begin with all four of its teams based in Rosemont, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area. Individual players will earn minimum compensation of $10,000 and will be able to earn a combined base and bonus of up to approximately $35,000 over the course of the season.

Players will also earn 50% of the league’s revenue and receive profit participation for 20 years. (This means a player who participates in 2020 will receive a share of any profits generated by the league through 2039.) Such a pay-system is intended to incentivize and reward players who commit to developing the league. Player housing will also be covered, as will health insurance, if needed.

“Our league is very much about the athletes,” said Anya Alvarez, Director of Content and Digital. “We’re giving players the autonomy to make decisions about their sports’ futures along with empowering them financially.”

Additional sports beyond softball will launch in 2021. In making the decision to begin with softball, the league cited the massive popularity of the Women’s College World Series and the lack of professional opportunities for many of college’s most popular players. (The 2019 WCWS averaged more than 1.1 million viewers over 15 games, up over 25% from the year before.)

“We were just kind of dumbfounded with how the sport wasn’t getting more traction and more support from the outside, especially at the professional level,” said Alvarez. “There’s tremendous interest and participation in the sport all across the country.”

The inaugural season will include 56 athletes on four teams each playing 30 games over five weeks. There will be no coaches, and teams will be redrafted each week by the four players who earn the most points the previous week.

The scoring system is unique to the league, and is designed to allow for comparisons between pitchers and position players. The majority of a player’s points will come from her team winning games and innings, with additional points being awarded for individual stats.

The league is banking on the fact that fans are more interested in following individual athletes rather than teams.

“Take an athlete like Megan Rapinoe,” said Alvarez. “If she were to no longer play for OL Reign, her fans would still follow her on a new team in a new city. LeBron is another good example. His fans aren’t just Lakers or Cavaliers fans, they’re LeBron fans through and through.”

Alvarez credited the rapid growth of social and digital media with powering this trend toward player-focused fandom.

“More than ever before, athletes are able to own their stories and intimately connect with their audiences.”

Athlete-centered storytelling will be a major aspect of Athletes Unlimited’s strategy, as the league looks to both invest in and capitalize on the personal relationships their players build with fans.

While no formal relationship as yet exists with USA Softball, the league does have a partnership with National Pro Fastpitch, another professional softball league whose season will end before Athletes Unlimited’s begin. Many players will play for both.

“Ultimately we’re viewing both leagues as funneling into one another versus trying to compete,” said Alvarez. “Our goal is to provide extended opportunities for athletes to continue their play. We want to create a new way for fans to consume and enjoy sports, while providing more opportunities for underappreciated athletes to compete and make money.”

With regard to the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic, Alvarez said the league is monitoring the situation day by day and that they are not hosting any events with their athletes for the time being. Given their August start date, they will wait to see how the situation unfolds before they make any major decisions.

The grass court chaos of Wimbledon didn't disappoint this week, as the unpredictable surface claimed more than one surprise victim in the 2025 Grand Slam's first round.

A full 10 of the London tournament's 32 seeded players fell in the competition's first round, including four of the WTA's Top 10: World No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 6 Qinwen Zheng, and No. 9 Paula Badosa.

"I should just play no tournaments, get no wins, then roll into Wimbledon, and maybe I'll have better results," US star Pegula joked after her two-set Tuesday loss to Italy's No. 116 Elisabetta Cocciaretto, referencing her recent wins.

Gauff's short Wimbledon outing also represented a new challenge for the 21-year-old standout, as the top-ranked US tennis player struggled to bounce back after winning the 2025 French Open last month.

"I feel like mentally I was a little bit overwhelmed with everything that came afterwards," Gauff told ESPN. "So I didn’t feel like I had enough time to celebrate and also get back into it."

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The upsets continued as Wimbledon entered its second round on Wednesday morning, claiming several more seeded players like world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini and No. 15 Diana Shnaider, though both No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and unseeded fan favorite Naomi Osaka cruised into the Slam's third round on two-set wins.

No. 8 Madison Keys now leads the US contingent, with fellow US contender No. 12 Amanda Anisimova joining the 2025 Australian Open champion in snagging their own two-set, second-round victories on Wednesday.

How to watch the 2025 Wimbledon Championships

Second-round play at the 2025 Wimbledon women's singles tournament continues on Thursday, as seven US players — including No. 10 Emma Navarro and No. 28 Sofia Kenin — look to advance to the competition's third round.

Live continuous coverage of the London Grand Slam airs on ESPN.

The world No. 1 USWNT will close out their summer international break against a familiar foe on Wednesday night, facing North American rival No. 8 Canada for the first time this year.

"It's never friendly, you know? It's always like a final," US midfielder Sam Coffey told media earlier this week. "We all know each other super well."

"I'm really excited to be a part of it again for our younger, newer players," she continued. "I think it's going to be a huge learning opportunity on what representing this crest means."

The Northern neighbors are the USWNT's most frequent opponent, with the US entering the pair's 67th meeting with a 53-4-9 all-time record against Canada.

Wednesday's matchup will also mark Canada's first US clash under new head coach Casey Stoney, who joined the team in January following her abrupt June 2024 dismissal by the NWSL's San Diego Wave FC.

As for US boss Emma Hayes, she'll be looking for yet another refreshed set of starters on Wednesday after swapping out all 11 players between the team's two friendlies against Ireland last week.

"It's a testament to players and staff alike that we can rotate to different groups like we did last game, and everybody's understanding [the tactics] to varying degrees," Hayes said on Tuesday.

With months to go before the next USWNT camp in October, Wednesday's showdown serves as the last chance for bubble players to prove their worth, all while the team aims to cap the summer window with a big win over their longtime rivals.

How to watch the USWNT vs. Canada on Wednesday

The USWNT will cap their three-friendly summer break against Canada at 7:30 PM ET in Washington, DC.

Live coverage of the clash will air on TNT.

The Indiana Fever lifted their first trophy since 2012 on Tuesday night, winning the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup with a 74-59 upset victory over reigning Cup champs Minnesota — all while injured star guard Caitlin Clark watched from the sidelines.

To snag the win, Indiana leaned on balanced scoring, with forward Natasha Howard's 16-point, 12-rebound double-double leading the Fever's five double-digit shooters.

At the same time, the Fever employed a shutdown defense, limiting the Lynx to their lowest point total of the season.

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Beyond the $500,000 payout, Tuesday's win gives the 8-8 Fever a momentum boost as the team continues contending with both high-profile departures and the limited availability of their floor general.

"We have a resilient group, you know?" Indiana head coach Stephanie White said after the game. "They're tough, mentally and physically, they pull for one another. I'm just really proud."

"It felt good to get a win under gut-check circumstances," echoed guard Kelsey Mitchell. "To have so much going on and still stay consistently for each other, it was beautiful. It felt really amazing."

As for the league-leading Lynx, the Commissioner's Cup loss won't impact Minnesota's regular-season WNBA standings — and they’ll hope to build on the learnings from last night's ego blow.

Minnesota also has a bit of history one their side, as the last two Commissioner's Cup runners-up went on to win the WNBA Championship in the same year.

"We have to take this game to heart and learn from the mistakes we made, the way we showed up, the way we prepared, and make sure we don't do it again," said Lynx center Alanna Smith.

How to watch the Indiana Fever, Minnesota Lynx this week

Neither 2025 Commissioner's Cup contender will have much time to reflect on Tuesday's game, as both Indiana and Minnesota will dive back into regular-season WNBA play on Thursday.

The Fever will host the Las Vegas Aces at 7 PM ET, airing on Prime, before the Washington Mystics visit the Lynx at 8 PM ET, with live coverage on WNBA League Pass.

Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham turned heads on Tuesday, criticizing the latest WNBA expansion plans in light of ongoing WNBPA CBA negotiations.

Cunningham drew ire from some fans after expressing skepticism about the WNBA awarding expansion teams to Detroit and Cleveland over other possible cities, while also suggesting that the league might be growing too quickly.

"You want to listen to your players, too. Where do they want to play?" she told reporters ahead of Indiana's Commissioner's Cup win. "I'm not so sure what the thought process is there, but at the end of the day, you want to make sure that you're not expanding our league too fast."

"It's kind of a hard decision-making situation. But man, I don't know how excited people are to be going to Detroit or [Cleveland]."

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Elsewhere, Phoenix Mercury forward Satou Sabally also voiced her expansion concerns on Tuesday, calling on the WNBA to keep player support at the forefront when adding expansion teams.

"We really have to put an emphasis on the players that are in our league right now," she told reporters. "Maybe focus on the teams that find excuses continuously to lack investment in their players before we focus on adding more to the grain of people that can't really be sustained."