Canada's Victoria Hayward, Athletes Unlimited aim for sustainable pro
softball ahead of Olympic return
Myles Dichter
| CBC Sports | Posted: June 6, 2025 4:32 PM | Last Updated:
June 6
Toronto native sees new partnership with MLB as key to growth
Image | 1277266495
Caption: Victoria Hayward celebrates during a game in 2020,
Athletes Unlimited's inaugural season. (Getty Images)
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Canadian softball veteran Victoria Hayward has competed through
four Olympic cycles — yet she's only played in one.
And so as softball returns for the 2028 Olympics in Los
Angeles, the 33-year-old Toronto native is still taking a
big-picture view. The sport has only been on the Olympic
program once since 2008, when the Tokyo Olympics included it
for the 2020 Games, where Hayward competed.
"I think the mission to grow our sport has to be bigger than
just doing it for that world stage," said Hayward, who joined
the national team as a 16-year-old in 2009 but had to watch the
2012, 2016 and 2024 Olympics from afar.
Hayward's mission continues Saturday when she will suit up for
opening day of the newest Athletes Unlimited Softball League
season. The competition first began in 2020 with a
fantasy-style, athlete-centred format — now, it's back for its
first go-round as a more traditional, team-focused pro league.
"Our goal is to have women be professional softball players and
that requires more games, that requires that traditional model
and so we're creeping closer and closer toward that and that's
something we're definitely really proud of as a league,"
Hayward said.
Hayward was part of the original group of players who competed
at a field in Rosemont, Ill., in 2020 in an attempt to drum up
interest for their sport ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.
Since its inception, Athletes Unlimited has expanded to include
volleyball and basketball, with both adopting the player-first
scoring format.
Now, softball has become the first to branch out into the more
traditional model, featuring four teams playing 24 games each
across 10 cities. Hayward was drafted to a team called the
Talons.
Former Miami Marlins general manager and longtime MLB executive
Kim Ng came aboard as commissioner in April, and one month
later MLB announced a strategic partnership with the league.
Image | 1330837865
Caption: Hayward competes for Team Canada at the Tokyo Olympics
in 2021. (Getty Images)
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"It's really a testament to all of the work that every
generation of professional softball players has done to
increase visibility, to really just put our sport on the map in
a way that MLB recognizes its value, recognizes its potential
and wants to be a part of it," Hayward, who spent three years
from 2020 to 2022 on the AU board, said.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the league was "really
excited" about the investment.
"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 for us," Manfred said.
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For Hayward, the partnership represents a massive step toward
creating that sustainable pro environment like basketball
players have in the WNBA, soccer players have in the NWSL and
NSL, and hockey players have in the PWHL.
She said AU has received advice from some the WNBA players who
spend their off-season in the league.
"Once you kind of receive that [MLB] stamp of approval things
can really take off, and I think that's really exciting,"
Hayward said.
Hayward added that the league had hoped to start in 2020 with a
traditional model, but it was forced to pivot due to various
pandemic restrictions.
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Olympic return
For this season, AU will maintain some of its old model in the
form of a season-ending All-Star Cup, a month-long competition
in August following the regular season.
"To see it come full circle and to have the opportunity to have
a team, to be able to create new beginnings and just lay the
foundation for it to be built upon is really awesome," Hayward
said.
Meanwhile, the timing of the MLB investment lands at the
beginning of a quadrennial, setting up the sport to create
momentum ahead of its return to the Olympics in three years —
and perhaps convince Brisbane 2032 organizers that is should be
included there, too.
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Canadian Open
Additionally, AU should help athletes stay sharp competitively
in advance of that competition, Hayward said.
"The athletes within this league are the absolute best of the
best and now with a model that we're going to play a lot more
games and we're going to be exposed to that high-level
competition day in and day out and just be around the best
softball players in the world, as a competitor training to be
in that world stage at the Olympics, that's all you can ask
for," Hayward said.
As for Team Canada, Hayward is the lone Canuck registered for
this season of Athletes Unlimited. She said she hopes more
Canadians will join in future years.
But Hayward, who hasn't competed on the national team since
2022, said she doesn't anticipate being part of the Olympic
roster.
"I'll never say never. A lot can change. As of right now, I do
not plan on being part of the national team at that time, but
stranger things have happened than for somebody to come out of
retirement to compete at the Olympic games," she said. "I would
love to be involved in some capacity."
She credited former player and current national team head coach
Kaleigh Rafter for bridging the gap toward the next generation
of Canadian softball players that will strive to build upon
Hayward and company's Tokyo bronze medal.
"Most people only want to be in when the Olympics are in and
I'm really proud of our country for wanting to be consistent
and continue to grow and I think then when you get into a cycle
when the Olympics is back, I think there's a renewed sense of
purpose," Hayward said.
Indeed, Hayward's purpose is clear as a refreshed and renewed
AU gets set for first pitch.
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