AUSL kicks off a historic softball marketing campaign as ESPN expands its reach

The GIST: Yesterday, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) officially debuted its "This is Legendary" campaign ad, which the league describes as the largest marketing initiative for pro softball in the U.S. The star-studded spot will air across ESPN networks to promote the new league, which tips off June 7th.

• This investment in advertising illustrates how emerging sports are rapidly overcoming barriers to growth by reaching potential audiences, especially young Gen Alpha fans and their parents. Grand slam.

The campaign: AUSL partnered with Chicago-based Dame Creative for an ad featuring eight of the league’s most popular players, including Maya Brady (yes, Tom Brady’s niece) and Odicci Alexander. The spot will play through spring and summer across ESPN networks and national digital media.

• AUSL is also launching an IRL campaign across select markets where athletes will attend local sporting events to drum up affinity and awareness for the league. The tour starts in softball capitals Tuscaloosa and Omaha and is presented by league partner U.S. Air Force.

The network: ESPN has recently become a softball haven through two extensive media rights deals. Last January, the network inked an eight-year extension to air 40 NCAA championship tournaments, including the Women’s College World Series (WCWS). A month later, ESPN signed a multiyear media rights agreement with AU to broadcast its softball competitions.

• When AU announced AUSL (a city and team-based league) last June, ESPN signed on as a founding broadcast partner. ESPN will exclusively carry 33 games, with 30 of them airing on linear television.

The opportunity: ESPN has been cashing in on softball’s rising viewership. In 2024, the network enjoyed its most-watched NCAA regular season since 2015 and the most-viewed WCWS Finals ever with 2M viewers. The Finals, which saw a 24% YoY viewership boost, also saw its female viewership rise to 44% (up from 40% in 2023).

• AU, for its part, enjoyed a 38% YoY viewership boost for its Pro Softball Championship on ESPNU, a platform that has a built-in softball audience thanks to its NCAA broadcasts.

Zooming out: As Pixar’s Win Or Lose original series illustrates, softball is becoming an increasingly popular sport among younger generations. Viewership among women and young men has been on the rise, the latter of which helped to propel the WCWS to its record-breaking numbers in recent years.

• The interesting thing about engaging younger Gen Alpha audiences is that brands are also reaching Gen Alpha’s engaged Millennial (and Gen Z) parents, who listen to the shopping and viewership requests of these “little adults.” Consider softball to play ball.