This press release arrived in the LATB Radio Inbox today:
DENVER, CO and NEW YORK– The National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF) and MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced today a multi-year agreement in which they will partner to stream a schedule of 60 NPF games live online exclusively from the League’s official Web site at http://www.profastpitch.com/. This free offering, which begins today on Opening Day of the 2009 NPF season, will mark the first time regular season NPF games will be streamed live on the Internet. In August 2008, NPF and MLB.com teamed up to stream the championship game of the NPF Championship Series on ProFastPitch.com and MLB.com.
DENVER, CO and NEW YORK– The National Pro Fastpitch League (NPF) and MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, announced today a multi-year agreement in which they will partner to stream a schedule of 60 NPF games live online exclusively from the League’s official Web site at http://www.profastpitch.com/. This free offering, which begins today on Opening Day of the 2009 NPF season, will mark the first time regular season NPF games will be streamed live on the Internet. In August 2008, NPF and MLB.com teamed up to stream the championship game of the NPF Championship Series on ProFastPitch.com and MLB.com.
“We are proud of our long-standing relationship with Major League Baseball and this new opportunity to work with MLB.com is representative of our cooperative efforts,” said Cheri Kempf, NPF Commissioner. “Fastpitch softball is a natural attraction to fans that are already sold on baseball at its highest level and we are confident that delivering live streaming video is a significant step forward in broadening our audience and fan base.”
“This partnership with National Pro Fastpitch represents an extension of The Commissioner’s Initiative on Women and Baseball and leverages our streaming technology to put the league and its great players in front of a global audience,” said Leslie Gittess, vice president, business development, MLB.com.
The live streaming schedule for NPF games on ProFastPitch.com and MLB.com begins tonight as the defending NPF Champion Chicago Bandits host the Philadelphia Force at 8:05 p.m. (EDT) and includes 24 additional games during the season’s first month. The complete schedule is available at MLB.com.
Every NPF game streamed on ProFastPitch.com and MLB.com will be available on-demand for the duration of the 2009 calendar year. The 2010 schedule of live streaming games will be announced prior to the beginning of that season.
Major League Baseball is the Official Development Partner of National Pro Fastpitch in the category of women’s professional fastpitch softball. The partnership, which began the fall of 2002, is part of The Commissioner’s Initiative on Women and Baseball, a league-wide effort to help Major League Baseball and the 30 Major League Clubs build stronger relationships with female audiences.
National Pro Fastpitch is headquartered in Denver, Colorado. The League, created to give elite female fastpitch players the opportunity to pursue a professional career in their chosen sport, has operated since 1997 under the names of Women’s Pro Fastpitch (WPF) and Women’s Pro Softball League (WPSL).
You can learn more about NPF by listening to the recent Mother's Day Edition of LATB Radio.
