Visit Tuscaloosa Addresses AUSL Team Speculation

The Athletes Unlimited Softball League is set to announce where its six franchises will call home on Tuesday morning, but one city confirmed that it is not on the list for hosting at all in 2026.

In an exclusive phone interview with Softball On SI, Visit Tuscaloosa's senior sports sales and event development manager, Robins Bonner, confirmed the disappointing news.

"Ultimately, hosting Athletes Unlimited in 2025 was an incredible experience for Tuscaloosa. Our fans showed up, the community embraced the athletes, and the atmosphere around the games was everything you could have hoped for.

"Even though we won't be hosting in 2026, the impact of 2025 and that season and that championship will stay with Tuscaloosa for a very long time. We love and fully support Athletes Unlimited as the league continues to grow, as they continue to inspire the next generation of youth softball players, and hope that somewhere down the line, we can partner with them again."

After former Alabama Crimson Tide star Montana Fouts led the Talons to the league's inaugural title at Rhoads Stadium on the Alabama campus, speculation swirled that the team could call Tuscaloosa home.

The best day ever 🏆 pic.twitter.com/5dkSyEudTc
— Talons | AUSL (@AUSL_Talons) October 22, 2025

The city explored the possibility and admitted that the Tuscaloosa Talons "rolled off the tongue" easily.

"We're sad that we're not gonna be hosting in '26," Bonner added. "When we first were having some of those conversations, that was the first thing that came to mind, like, man, this really rolls off the tongue nicely."

The AUSL will be releasing its 2026 season in its entirety on Tuesday and when it does, there will be some fans in Alabama who are extremely disappointed.

Save the date! #AUSL Cities will be revealed on January 13. 📍👀 pic.twitter.com/mCGotA0idq
— AUSL (@theAUSLofficial) December 13, 2025

However, Bonner doesn't want them to feel like the league is never coming back.

"We never know what the future holds," Bonner stated. "Especially as the league continues to grow and more teams will hopefully join Athletes Unlimited, which I think is very much in the realm of possibility over the next few years. This would be something that I, with Visit Tuscaloos, would want to bring back to the table with the University of Alabama to see if there's an opportunity for us to have a team here."

With the addition of two teams, the 2026 AUSL season is shaping up to be legendary. Adding the Oklahoma City Spark will lock in a fan base close to the home of the Women's College World Series and near the campuses of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. The Bandits are also expected to return to Chicago, according to a previous report.

As for the other four teams, the softball will learn about their future homes soon enough.

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