A vacancy in America’s pastime could soon be filled, as it was announced in October that a new baseball league for women is on the horizon. The Women’s Professional Baseball League (WPBL) is currently in development and aiming to debut in 2026. This would mark yet another high point for the rise of professional women’s sports in the United States.
There has not been a professional women’s baseball league in the U.S. since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League; this league, made famous in the film “A League of Their Own,” was dissolved in 1954. But there have been renewed efforts to revitalize women’s baseball on a professional level, and now the first women’s league in 70 years is coming to fruition.
What are the details of the WPBL?
The WPBL will “be a national league with teams based across the U.S.,” and “will launch for the 2026 season with six teams in the Northeast,” according to a press release. Cities, team names and branding have not yet been revealed, though the league’s website does have a page set up for team ownership opportunities. The league is also working on securing broadcasting deals for television.
The league was started by Justine Siegal and Keith Stein. Siegal was the “first woman to coach a professional men’s baseball team and to pitch batting practice against a Major League Baseball team,” the press release said, and is also the founder of the nonprofit women’s group Baseball for All. Stein is a “lawyer and businessman with a history in professional sports leagues and team ownership.”
How could the WPBL grow women’s sports?
There has been an increasing interest in women’s sports that “made this an ideal time to launch a women’s baseball league,” Siegal said to The Associated Press. Women’s sports have been skyrocketing in popularity in recent years; basketball in particular has seen a massive boost thanks to WNBA stars like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese and Cameron Brink. The women’s professional sports industry will “generate global revenues of $1.28 billion in 2024,” said consultancy group Deloitte, marking the “first time that annual global revenues for women’s sports will have surpassed $1 billion.”
But women’s baseball faces an uphill battle, as “securing franchise owners, six Northeastern cities, stadiums and sponsors might pale in comparison to the league’s most basic need: players with experience,” said NBC News. There are no states currently offering girls’ high school baseball, but there were “1,372 high school girls who played on boys baseball teams across America last academic year,” according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. This number is much lower than the “471,761 boys who played baseball” this year, said NBC.
Despite this, there are “girls playing baseball and local leagues around the country right now,” Siegal said to NBC, and she hopes they will be able to capture this market. The WPBL is “going to be able to give a pipeline for girls who are being told they should quit when now they know that they have a place that they could play in.”
There is more good news for those hoping to see continued expansion in women’s sports. The WNBA is “adding three new teams over the next two years — starting with the Golden State Valkyries next summer,” said Yahoo! Sports, while the “National Women’s Soccer League is expected to announce a 16th franchise by the end of the year, and the Professional Women’s Hockey League is gearing up for its second season next month.” All of this bodes well for the potential growth of the WPBL.