Former Marlins GM Kim Ng leads new pro softball league: ‘MLB for softball’
For the first time since its founding in 2020, Athletes Unlimited (AU) is hosting a traditional team league intended to be “Major League Baseball for softball,” in the words of former Miami Marlins general manager Kim Ng, the senior advisor to the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL).
AU annually hosts weeklong competitions for women’s professional sports, including softball, basketball, volleyball and lacrosse, without any coaches or GMs involved. A player, unlike a team, would win the so-called championship for a given season based on an unorthodox points system, with all matches held in one location. Softball is the first sport for which AU is implementing a team format.
The AUSL, which starts in June 2025, will allow for a 30-match schedule for each of the four teams. The locations of said games will vary by to-be-determined tour location, intended to inform league leadership as to which cities might be most receptive to supporting a professional softball team in the long term. Starting in 2026, the AUSL plans to station up to six teams in different cities.
At least 30 AUSL games will be broadcast exclusively on ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Softball icon Jennie Finch, an Olympic gold medalist, is one of four supportive advisors to Ng, whose tenure as Marlins GM from 2020 to 2023 made her the first female GM in North America’s four major sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL ) . Ng believes the creation of a premier softball league is long overdue. But perhaps there’s no better time than now, given the momentum built in recent years by sports like women’s basketball and the WNBA.
GET ALL HYPE 🗣️
we are happy to introduce the first group of players to join the #AUSL ✍️
— AUSL (@theAUSLofficial) November 22, 2024
“Every day there are people who say, ‘Saturday night I watched the WNBA game with my 10-year-old son.’ … Things that we didn’t think would happen for a long time have suddenly become so much more mainstream,” Ng said.
Ng hopes AUSL will serve as a training ground for the world’s best softball players ahead of the sport’s return to the 2028 Summer Olympics.
The group of coaches and GMs selected for the first season are prominent softball figures. Stacey Nuveman-Deniz, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is one of four coaches. GMs include Lisa Fernandez, three-time Olympic gold medalist, and Cat Osterman, four-time National Pro Fastpitch Champion. And among the first nine players are Olympic silver medalists Carley Hoover and Dejah Mulipola.
The four teams will build their rosters through the AUSL Allocation Draft in early 2025 and a college draft in the spring, a significant change from the way AU’s leagues previously operated.
Players with the most points on an individual leaderboard are considered captains and are given the power to choose their teams each week, with an individual being crowned champion at the end of the season. This arrangement will not disappear completely. After a best-of-three championship series decides the AUSL champion, the AUSL All-Star Cup, formerly known as the AU Pro Softball Championship season, will take place in four weeks to determine an individual champion. Such a format arose from a player-centric mission of AU, which has no owners or investors and instead allows players to serve as direct shareholders.
Ng said she probably should have taken more time off after leaving her role as GM with the Marlins in October 2023. The AUSL, and what it could make possible for the future of softball and other professional women’s sports, was just too important to her. to pass by.
“Being a woman who has fought for other women in sports, and now to have the opportunity to be someone from within fighting for women’s sports, it’s really cool,” said Ng, who joined AU last summer to lead give to the AUSL.
(Photo of Kim Ng from 2022: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
