What ESPN's Women's Sports Sunday Means for Softball

Can Sunday Night Softball be a new phenomenon?

ESPN announced on Thursday that they plan to replace the 35-year-old “Sunday Night Baseball” programming with “Women’s Sports Sundays”, a hub for top matchups for the WNBA and NWSL during the summer.

ESPN to launch 'Women’s Sports Sundays'

Debuting this summer, it's a first of its kind weekly primetime franchise showcasing the best of women’s sports in premium windows

More: https://t.co/hIH7v4QSzg pic.twitter.com/VnfboFdOGT
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 19, 2026

According to Brian Steinberg at Variety, Susie Piotrkowski, vice president of women’s sports programming and espnW, revealed during an interview that there are hopes evolve this programming and air even more women’s sporting events throughout the year.

ESPN is currently in the midst of an eight-year pact with the NCAA for several women’s sports, including softball, and owns the rights to the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) and the Little League Softball World Series. There’s ample opportunity for the sport to air on Sunday evenings.

“Sunday is a day of the week when we see a ton of our best women’s sports programming, and we will have events outside of our primetime window,” Piotrkowski told Variety.

This announcement comes just weeks after ESPN revealed it is set to air a record-number of college softball games this year across all platforms. The 2025 Women’s College World Series (WCWS) broke viewership records, outlasting the Men’s College World Series (MCWS), and the 2026 season is already seeing all-time highs.

The Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational, owned and operated by ESPN Events, which has been a staple tournament in college softball for seven years, saw its best viewing year yet, averaging 159,000 views after it wrapped up on Feb. 15.

The 2026 @ClearwaterInv was the MOST-WATCHED on record 🎉

🥎 @TexasTechSB-@HuskerSoftball is the 5th most-watched game from the event EVER (383K viewers)
🥎 Up 11% from last year's Invitational#NCAASoftball pic.twitter.com/sQq885YqqV
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) February 19, 2026

The most ironic part about it? The most viewed game of the tournament was the Sunday night re-air of Nebraska’s upset over the then-No. 1 Texas Tech Raiders with 383,000 viewers.

Sunday Night Softball doesn’t sound too outlandish, does it?

Several more top softball college matchups will air on ESPN on Sunday afternoons. Oklahoma will face LSU, and Texas A&M will face Texas on March 29, while Arizona takes on LSU, and the Red River Rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas occurs on April 12.

Additionally, from the Selection Show to national titles, ESPN is once again the home for the WCWS in Oklahoma City.

“Women’s Sports Sundays” isn’t an experiment, Rosalyn Durant, ESPN’s executive vice president, programming & acquisitions, told Variety. “It is a flag in the ground, and a continuing commitment.”

The AUSL is coming off its inaugural season, and in October 2025, the league and ESPN reached a three-year agreement to carry 50 games annually beginning in 2026. This includes 47 regular-season matchups and the AUSL Championship Series. Coverage will span across all ESPN platforms, including top games on ABC, marking the first time professional softball will air on broadcast television in the U.S.

If you haven’t watched softball before, there’s no better time than now.

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