On Wednesday, the American Collegiate League (ACL) officially announced that the Heartland Collegiate League (HCL) would be their newest member. HCL will be based out of Omaha and play its inaugural season in the summer of 2023.
The season will consist of a 25-game schedule, an all-star event, and a postseason tournament. According to ACL Executive Director Ryan Moore, as told to Extra Inning Softball, “the American Collegiate League has secured several locations in the United States over the last three months with the plan to have six-to-eight teams per location.” The goal is to have a collegiate summer world series with each of the region’s champions represented.
The ACL was formed to give current collegiate players the opportunity to make more income, similar to other pro leagues.
“Our goal is to provide more summer collegiate opportunities throughout the country for collegiate softball athletes and other collegiate sports,” Moore adds, “but also to provide a business opportunity and equity position for each of the professional players in all the different regional leagues and teams. We believe this will provide the credible growth of the game for both the collegiate and professional players” said Moore in the Extra Inning Softball article.
Will continue to follow the story and provide updates as they become available. It’s exciting for Omaha and the surrounding area to have access to this level of softball.
