The WNBA Players Association is making friends, as brother player unions for the NBA, MLB, and NFL all issued statements last week supporting the WNBPA while the league officially extended the ongoing CBA negotiations by an additional 30 days.
Calling WNBA players' impact on the league "undeniable," the NFLPA wrote on Wednesday that "It's time for fair compensation, proper working conditions, and a future that puts players first."
"We're with you for as long as it takes to get what you deserve," the MLBPA told WNBPA players in a Saturday solidarity post on social media.
"We stand with the women of the WNBPA as they work toward a collective bargaining agreement that reflects their value and impact both on and off the court," the NBPA posted on Saturday.
Amid the statements of support from other player unions, the WNBA and WNBPA also officially extended their CBA negotiation deadline on Friday.
The league office and the WNBPA now have until November 30th to reach a deal, though the players can terminate the extension at any time with 48 hours notice — a move that would put them on a path toward a possible work stoppage.
"While we believed negotiations would be further along, the players are more focused, united, and determined than ever to reach an agreement that reflects their value and undeniable impact on the league," the union wrote in a Friday statement.
ESPN reported that the two sides met multiple times last week, as a busy WNBA offseason with two expansion drafts and an active free agency period looms.
The NWSL lit up the baseball diamond on Saturday, claiming a new attendance record as the No. 2 Washington Spirit defeated No. 12 Bay FC 3-2 in MLB's Oracle Park in San Francisco.
The 40,091-strong crowd not only shattered the prior NWSL record, when 35,038 fans watched Bay beat Chicago inside Wrigley Field in June 2024, Saturday also set a new attendance mark across all US professional women's sports leagues.
"The players deserve it. They've worked so hard and this league has come such a long way," Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya said following the historic loss. "When you get football like that, I think every single person that watched that game can leave and say 'Hey, I'd do this again,' because it was entertaining. It was good quality football all around."
The victory marked the Spirit's sixth road win this season, as Washington climbs the table behind midfielder Croix Bethune's first goal of 2025 — and forward Trinity Rodman's first start since April.
"The atmosphere was fantastic," Spirit manager Adrián González said. "The setup, the fans, and having the opportunity to have an experience like this, I think, is just something unique."
Washington now sits 12 points behind league-leaders Kansas City, while just six points separate the Spirit from No. 7 Racing Louisville in an increasingly congested top of the NWSL standings.
Following the NWSL attendance record set by Chicago at the historic Wrigley Field in June 2024, Bay FC will gear up to best the Stars' title during this weekend's clash inside another MLB stadium — the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park.
With over 35,000 tickets already sold, Bay will officially claim the league's single-game attendance record when the No. 11 NWSL club hosts the No. 4 Washington Spirit on Saturday, topping the 35,038 fans who showed up in Chicago last summer.
With a capacity of 40,260 seats, Saturday's match could significantly surpass that June 2024 mark.
The game will also set the attendance record for all US professional women's sports leagues.
"This is a landmark moment not just for Bay FC or the NWSL, but for the future of women's professional sports in the United States," said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman in a statement. "Breaking the league's single-match attendance record at a venue as iconic as Oracle Park is a testament to the growing demand, passion, and momentum behind our league."
Reflecting the continued growth of the NWSL, the six most-attended matches in league history have occurred in the last four seasons, with markets like San Diego, Seattle, and Chicago all reaching new heights.
"This is about more than just a match, it is about pushing boundaries and creating something bigger than ourselves," noted Bay FC CEO Brady Stewart. "Everyone who is at Oracle Park [on] Saturday has the chance to be part of history and together show the world what's possible in women's sports."
Set to debut in 2026, the Women's Professional Baseball League (WPBL) announced Wednesday that it will hold its first-ever tryouts this summer, with the event kicking off on August 22nd in Washington, DC.
The WPBL currently has more than 600 attendees registered for the August tryouts, which will take place across a four-day camp.
For the first three days, players will participate in drills and performance testing at the Washington Nationals' Youth Baseball Academy.
Those evaluations will determine the select group to advance past the first cuts, with those players then competing in live game-play at MLB's Nationals Park on August 25th.
Following that final round, a total of 150 successful athletes will earn invites to the league's inaugural draft in October.
Leading the tryouts will be WPBL EVP of player relations and Team USA baseball star Alex Hugo.
"We are really excited to see all of the players at tryouts this summer and see their incredible skills," Hugo said in the WPBL's tryouts announcement. "We're building a future where girls and women who love baseball can dream as big as they want and now, finally, have a league to call their own."
Co-founded by the first woman to coach in MLB, Justine Siegal, the WPBL plans to launch with six teams in spring of 2026.
When it begins play, the WPBL will become the first US women's pro baseball league since the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, which folded in 1954 following 12 seasons of play.
MLB is going all in on elevating the women's diamond, with the men's pro baseball league reportedly making an eight-figure investment for an equity stake of over 20% in the brand-new Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) — just in time for the venture's debut season.
Though MLB has a long history partnering with USA Softball and sponsoring initiatives in and around the game of softball, this week's AUSL announcement marks the baseball organization's first-ever investment in a professional softball league.
"We thought rather than starting on our own and competing, that finding a place where we could invest and grow a business was a better opportunity," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told the Associated Press on Thursday.
Along with the financial backing that will bolster AUSL's operations and growth plans, MLB is partnering with the new league to boost its visibility through marketing, sales, and content distribution across MLB platforms — including the airing of select AUSL games on MLB Network and MLB.com.
"This is a watershed moment for women's sports and especially for softball," AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng — who notably broke barriers in her previous career as an SVP and, later, GM in MLB — said in a league statement.
"MLB's investment will supercharge our efforts to build the sustainable professional league this sport has long deserved, and sends a powerful message about the value of female athletes and the importance of creating professional opportunities for them."
Softball legends pitch in to build Athletes United success
Athletes Unlimited has been active in the softball space with their unique, individual athlete-centered competition system since 2020, with AUSL marking their first stab at a more traditional league format.
Beginning with the league's first pitch on June 7th, four teams — the Bandits, Blaze, Talons, and Volts — will play a traveling 24-game season across 10 cities prior to a best-of-three championship series between the top two AUSL teams in late July.
With an advisory board of former college and Team USA stars — including Jennie Finch, Natasha Watley, Jessica Mendoza, and Cat Osterman — plus a roster of US softball legends-turned-NCAA coaches like Lisa Fernandez (UCLA) and Stacey Nuveman-Deniz (San Diego State) leading the four teams, AUSL is tapping the sport's best to build a strong foundation for future league success.
With plans to establish city-based squads next year, AUSL is capitalizing on one of the country's most popular college sports — all while creating a sustainable pipeline for current and future NCAA softball stars to turn pro.
The Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) hired former MLB executive Kim Ng as its first-ever commissioner on Wednesday, tapping into Ng’s 21 years of top-level experience ahead of the league’s inaugural 2025 season.
After becoming the youngest assistant general manager in baseball history for the New York Yankees in 1998, Ng inked another line into the record books as the first woman GM in any major US men’s sports league in November 2020, when she took over the front office for MLB’s Miami Marlins.
Her three-season tenure in Miami culminated in a 2023 playoff appearance — the Marlins' first in 20 years.
Ng's pivot to softball is a homecoming for the trailblazing 56-year-old exec, who played NCAA softball before breaking down MLB barriers.
"I think after 30-plus years in the business, I also owe it to myself to do some things that I hadn't necessarily had the opportunity to do in the past," Ng told The Athletic about her decision to join AUSL. "And this is, for me, it's a passion."
Prior to her commissioner appointment, Ng served as a senior advisor for AUSL, helping to develop the league into existence from a landscape full of growing parity at the college level, yet few viable pro opportunities.
"Knowing what an established, mature system of governance looks like, I think will be really helpful in establishing this league," Ng added.
AUSL takes the field with 2025 tour
Launching on June 7th — immediately following the 2025 NCAA Women's College World Series — each of the AUSL's four inaugural teams will play 24 games across a seven-week season.
The league's 2025 debut will function as a tour, with regular-season games played across eight different cities before two additional locations are added for the first-ever AUSL All-Star Cup in August.
Each city is auditioning to become one of six permanent markets for the league, which will transition to a traditional location-based set-up in 2026.