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Could a Mixed-Gender Pro League Work? The Benefits of Coed Sports

Richard Janvrin by Richard Janvrin, November 20, 2025

A photo of coed sports athletes

In the town or city where you live, you may find that there are plenty of coed sports. For example, where I live, coed slow-pitch softball is available and enjoyable, and there are benefits to coed sports at that level.

However, outside of local for-fun leagues, what about coed pro sports? Is that a thing? Could that work?

Here, we’ll examine that, using evidence from sports science and examining leagues to see how/if that could work, and explore the benefits of coed sports, too.

Let’s dive in.

Attempts at Mixed Sports Professional Leagues

When you browse online sports betting platforms or search “mixed sports professional,” you’ll find there aren’t many iterations of it.

The most well-known examples are tennis players doing mixed doubles matches, including at the US Open.

However, there have been some other opportunities, including the Scandinavian Mixed, which was co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and LET. This took place in Sweden with 78 men and 78 women. Since 2021, two men and one woman have won. Linn Grant won it twice in 2022 and 2024. The other winners were Jonathan Caldwell (2021) and Dale Whintell (2023).

Also, there was the Grant Thornton Invitational in golf, which is a mixed-team co-sanctioned event between the LPGA and PGA TOUR.

Finally, there was Global Mixed Gender Basketball. It had a short run, offering up exhibition matches with ex-WNBA and NBA players as opposed to full-on seasons. It was founded in 2015, played its first games in 2017, and ended in 2019.

Other than these certain tournaments, there has been no official “men and women in sports” professionally side by side in a league format.

Why Are Sports Divided by Gender?

Why are sports divided by gender? In short, it’s biology. While there are some instances where it makes sense, such as golf or mixed tennis matches, there are other sports, such as baseball, football, basketball, and hockey, that wouldn’t pan out well.

After a human male goes through puberty, testosterone drives higher muscle mass, hemoglobin, bone size, and power. These are all distinct advantages for males, as mentioned by David J. Handelsman, Angelica L. Hirschberg, and Stephane Bermon in an article titled “Circulating Testosterone as the Hormonal Basis of Sex Differences in Athletic Performance” at PubMed Central.

“Elite athletic competitions have separate male and female events due to men’s physical advantages in strength, speed, and endurance, so that a protected female category with objective entry criteria is required. Prior to puberty, there is no sex difference in circulating testosterone concentrations or athletic performance, but from puberty onward a clear sex difference in athletic performance emerges as circulating testosterone concentrations rise in men because testes produce 30 times more testosterone than before puberty with circulating testosterone exceeding 15-fold that of women at any age,” the article states at the beginning.

There are also safety and fairness factors to consider. Females tend to face more potential knee injuries, including ACL tears and concussions, in the same sports when compared to men.

“ACL injuries have existed as long as women’s football has existed,” Alex Culvin, the Head of Strategy and Research for Women’s Football at global players union FIFPRO, told Reuters. “It’s really important that we prioritise ACL injury. It’s a holistic injury and affects players’ careers in a holistic way.

“Not only do they miss a minimum nine months, in a career of 10 years you’re twice, three times as likely to do another ACL injury. And then you’ve got to think about the commercial opportunities and the career opportunities that players lose through this injury.

“Take Leah Williamson [women’s pro soccer player], she was Nike’s poster person, and then next minute she’s not playing. She obviously has come back and is an outstanding player, but the commercial and career opportunities that she loses in that snap second…”

To add to the answer “why are sports divided by gender?”, the article at Reuters goes on to continue saying that while ACL injuries haven’t increased among the best women’s soccer/football players, they’re eight times more susceptible to the injury than males.

Potential Benefits of Coed Sports

There are benefits of coed sports, but it all depends on the level being discussed and the sport at hand.

Mixed sports professional leagues offer far too much risk.

However, at a youth level, when kids are still learning how to play sports, having coed basketball, flag football, and soccer could be beneficial as it teaches sportsmanship and respect between the genders at an early age.

Are there opportunities for this at a pro level? Sure, we saw the NBA All-Star period showcase men and women in the three-point contest. There are ways to include it to cross-pollinate fan bases.

Challenges and Considerations of Mixing Genders at the Pro Level

If there were to ever be a mixed gender professional league. There are considerable challenges to consider.

In collision/contact sports, there would be clear performance gaps overall. Men would tend to be faster and have more power in a setting such as American football.

As for combat sports, this could be incredibly dangerous given the differences in biological makeup.

There would also have to be changes made to medical protocols due to, as mentioned before, women tend to be more susceptible to injuries such as ACL tears.

There’s been some success, viewer-wise, with mixed gender competitions, but as far as a full league with a season, it’s unclear to me how that would perform other than the initial “shock” of it happening and being a spectacle. The quality of competition could suffer.

Will a Pro Level Coed League Work?

The answer for me, in general, is no, but it depends on the sport. For example, having mixed leagues in golf, tennis doubles, sailing, or equestrian could work. There would be a bit of an advantage in golf, but as shown above with Linn Grant, she did well in the Scandinavian Mixed event.

As for sports like American football, baseball, basketball, or mixed martial arts, I can’t see a scenario where that could exist and be safe long-term.

There are opportunities and benefits of coed sports, but the potential creators of these hypothetical leagues need to consider plenty, including medical, competition, and what sport to choose.

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