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.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.