Major League Baseball is investing in Athletes Unlimited to support its softball league that will debut next month, its first comprehensive partnership with a professional women’s sports circuit.

MLB said Thursday it was making a strategic investment in the Athletes Unlimited Softball League of an undisclosed amount for operational costs and a commitment to help it gain visibility. MLB will assist with content, marketing and sales, events, distribution, editorial, and digital and social platforms.

Support will include marketing the AUSL and its athletes during MLB’s All-Star Game and throughout the postseason along with broadcasts on the MLB Network and streams on MLB.TV.

“This is something we’re really excited about,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told The Associated Press. “We studied the space hard. We think it’s a real opportunity and we’re excited to be involved.”

Athletes Unlimited has featured softball since 2020, when it unveiled a unique format that crowned an individual champion. The company will launch a four-team league starting June 7 with the Bandits and Talons opening with a three-game series in Rosemont, Ill., and the Blaze and Volts a three-game set at Wichita, Kan. The four teams will play 24 games each, touring to 12 cities, and the top two teams will compete in the best-of-three AUSL Championship from July 26-28 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

A 21-game AUSL All-Star Cup will follow in August.

A traditional city-based league will start in 2026, when the AUSL plans to expand to six teams, according to AU co-founder Jon Patricof.

“This is really something that is going to be sustainable, and people can be professional softball players and that is all they do,” U.S. national team infielder Sis Bates said. “This can be your full-time career, which is incredible.”

Manfred said MLB considered launching its own softball league.

“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,” Manfred said.

Former Miami Marlins general manager and MLB senior vice president Kim Ng joined AUSL as an adviser and was promoted to commissioner in April.

MLB’s involvement could drive softball toward advanced analytics in the same manner as it has in baseball.

“TrackMan is in some of the stadiums that we’re going to be in,” Ng said, referring to the radar system behind MLB Statcast. “We’ve signed on with a number of different analytics groups.”

MLB was encouraged by growth of the WNBA, National Women’s Soccer League and NCAA women’s basketball. MLB hasn’t ruled out later involvement in women’s baseball.

‘What’s really exciting about this is us committing not just a financial investment but resources and our time and sort of the power that is MLB,” MLB chief marketing officer Uzma Rawn Dowler said.

Patricof said MLB’s assistance to boost the AUSL’s visibility is as important as the financial investment.

“They’re committed to really elevating the AUSL,” he said. “It’s probably about one of the most difficult things for any sports league to do, which is to get visibility and break through to new audiences, and I think MLB is already doing that for the AUSL, and there’s going to be a lot more to come.”

Women’s pro softball leagues and independent teams have come and gone over the years. The AUSL hopes for stability and has softball greats Cat Osterman, Jennie Finch, Jessica Mendoza and Natasha Watley as advisers.

MLB already supports several women’s softball and baseball initiatives, including a partnership with USA Softball and operation of the MLB Develops girls baseball pipeline. It is not involved with the Women’s Professional Baseball League, which plans to launch in 2026 as the first pro baseball league for women since the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League — of “A League of Their Own” fame — folded in 1954.

Manfred sees a bright future ahead for AUSL.

“We hope that we will end up with a league that is sustainable on its own, a good investment for us, and a partner in growing diamond sports internationally,” he said.

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

By MAE ANDERSON and ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Businesses rattled by President Donald Trump’s on again, off again tariffs absorbed more jolts on Thursday after a U.S. appeals court temporarily blocked a federal court order that would have halted most of his taxes on foreign imports.

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A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled late Wednesday that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency as justification for his wide-ranging tariffs.

But a federal appeals court on Thursday afternoon granted a motion allowing the government to continue collecting tariffs under the emergency powers law while the Trump administration challenges the trade court’s decision.

Even before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit stepped in, business owners and the National Retail Federation had said that without a definitive word in the case, the Wednesday ruling only created more uncertainty and made it harder to budget and plan.

“The ruling by the U.S. Court of International Trade blocking most of President Trump’s tariffs is just another chapter in this difficult journey toward a clear, consistent and strategic trade policy,” Jonathan Gold, the trade group’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy, said in an emailed statement. “We urge rapid resolution as this process continues in the courts.”

The president invoked the emergency powers law in early April when he imposed varying import tax rates on products from dozens of countries, including the biggest trading partners of the U.S. After financial markets showed signs of panic, Trump lowered the rate to 10% for every country except China, whose goods were taxed at 145%.

Jonathan Silva, the owner of WS Game Company, said he did not intend to change his plans based on the ruling. He has the board games his company sells made in China,

“We know that this will take time for the appeals process to take place and a final ruling to be instituted,” Silva said. “But we are hopeful that this will be the beginning of a more academic use of tariffs in the coming months and years. All we want to do is have certainty in the environment that we are operating in, as the day-to-day retaliations and pauses are not conducive to business operations.”

The CEO of electronics retailer Best Buy, Corie Barry, told reporters on Thursday that the legal news did not make her more or less optimistic but rather underscored the importance of continuing to remain agile while not changing course in response to near-daily tariff developments.

“I don’t think there’s anything we would do differently based on the news overnight,” Barry said. “What I really tried to work with the team on is to not actually overreact to any given moment in time, but instead to stay maniacally focused on our customers and ensure we are bringing the right assortment, price, and (promotions) to them, whatever the backdrop.”

FILE – A Tariff Free sign to attract vehicle shoppers is at an automobile dealership in Totowa, N.J., on April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Barry told analysts that Best Buy has taken a variety of steps to offset higher tariff costs, including pushing vendors to spread out where they do manufacturing. The company is increasing some prices to absorb tariff-related costs, she said, calling the move “a last resort.” She declined to be specific given the fluid situation.

Jim Umlauf, whose business, 4Knines, based in Oklahoma City, makes vehicle seat covers and cargo liners for dog owners and others, said the court ruling did not offer reassurance but only further complicated his decision-making.

“At this point, we don’t know whether the decision will hold, whether it applies to (Trump’s) original 2018 tariffs, or how it will be enforced,” he said. “Without clarity, we’re left planning around a moving target. Like many others, we’ve already locked in quotes and made purchasing decisions assuming tariffs would remain in place. This development, rather than offering relief, introduces new logistical complications at the worst possible time.”

Kelsey O’Callaghan, the founder of a Salt Lake City kitchen and bathroom accessories company called Dorai Home, said she expected the trade war to continue. The constant flux since Trump’s return to office has made her “numb,” but O’Callaghan said she has tried to make educated decisions.

The company already postponed the launch of several new products, laid off the CEO and some other key employees. It paused order shipments from China in early April but resumed some on a staggered basis when the president Trump lowered the rate for Chinese goods to 30% for 90 days.

Now, Dorai Home plans to test price increases to see if shoppers will still buy its products.

“In a business sense, you have to try to create as much certainty and stability as you can with the variables you can control,” O’Callaghan said.

But some businesses were more optimistic. Burlington Coat Factory CEO Michael B. O’Sullivan said Thursday that the tariff pause might help discount retailers like his that buy excess inventory from other retail companies.

The court ruling and continued uncertainty may further fuel a production race that started when the tariff rate for Chinese products were substantially reduced, O’Sullivan said.

“There’s now a huge rush on production and shipping across the industry. Now, the court decision last night could add to that rush,” he said. “Instead of shortages, this topsy-turvy stop/start surge has the potential to create attractive buying opportunities.”

By MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKYO (AP) — Japan said Tuesday it plans to use some slightly radioactive soil stored near the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant on flower beds at Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s office to show it is safe to reuse.

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The soil was removed from across the Fukushima prefecture as part of decontamination work following the 2011 nuclear disaster and has since been in interim storage. Some of it has since reached levels safe enough for reuse, officials say.

Using the soil at Ishiba’s office in Tokyo is aimed at reassuring the public it is safe. The government said that it plans to reuse the soil for flower beds and other purposes within the grounds of government agencies. The plan is based on guidelines set by the Environment Ministry in March and endorsed by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The timing and other details for the soil use still need to be worked out and the government is expected to compile a roadmap for the project around the summer.

The Fukushima disaster resulted in large amounts of radioactive materials spewing out from the plant, polluting surrounding areas, leaving some areas still uninhabitable and requiring further decontamination work.

FILE – This aerial view shows the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, northern Japan, on Aug. 24, 2023. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Japan is stuck with large volumes of the dirt, chopped trees and other debris collected during intensive decontamination work. It has 14 million cubic meters of dirt and other materials — enough to fill 11 baseball stadiums — stored at a sprawling outdoor facility straddling the towns of Futaba and Okuma, near the Fukushima plant. The soil does not include any from inside the plant.

The government has pledged to find disposal sites for the soil outside of the prefecture by 2045, with officials suggesting low risk material could be used to build roads and in other public works projects across the country.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, at the soil task force meeting, called for a government-wide effort to promote understanding for the soil use for reconstruction projects and to show good examples, starting with the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Environment Ministry said that the soil will be used as foundation material and safely covered with top soil thick enough to keep radiation at negligible levels.

FILE – Black garbage bags filled with radioactivity waste are kept temporally in a field in Minamisoma, Fukushima prefecture, Japan Saturday, March 11, 2017. (Kota Endo/Kyodo News via AP, File)

But there is much public unease. The government has already been forced to discontinue a plan to experiment using some of the soil in flower beds at several public parks in and around Tokyo following protests.

The IAEA is providing assistance with the Fukushima decommissioning process, which requires removing more than 880 tons of melted fuel debris.

In 2023 Japan began discharging treated radioactive wastewater from the plant into the sea to reduce the risk of accidental leaks and to make space to build facilities needed for melted fuel removal.

While St. Paul and Minneapolis will provide the primary venues for the 2026 World Juniors, organizers talked from the get-go of efforts to make the tournament an event that celebrates hockey all across the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota.

Those efforts became more real on Thursday with the announcement that arenas in Bemidji, Duluth, Mankato and Rochester will host pre-tournament games in December.

While the specific schedule and ticket information will be revealed at a later date, WJC organizers said they expect teams from all 10 participating nations to play in what is being dubbed the World Juniors Pre-Tournament Series. The arenas will be the Sanford Center in Bemidji, Amsoil Arena in Duluth, the Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center in Mankato and the Rochester Rec Center.

“We are excited for the communities of Bemidji, Duluth, Mankato and Rochester to be part of the 50th edition of this iconic international hockey tournament,” Pat Kelleher, executive director of USA Hockey, said in a statement. “We know fans and volunteers in each community will take immense pride in welcoming the world, and we look forward to seeing the excitement build as the 10 teams prepare to compete for gold in the capital of the State of Hockey.”

The tournament, which involves the top male players aged 20 and under from around the world, begins on Dec. 26 and concludes with the gold medal game on Jan. 5. The participating nations are Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Russia remains banned from participation in World Juniors and other international competition by the International Ice Hockey Federation due to the on-going war in Ukraine.

Xcel Energy Center will be the primary site, with 3M Arena at Mariucci in Minneapolis hosting other tournament games. This will be the third time Minnesota has been host to all or part of the tournament, with the Twin Cities serving as the primary site in 1982, and Thief River Falls, Minn., serving as the secondary site in 2005.

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