Kim Ng Is Trying to Crack Pro Softball’s Toughest Problem

On Wednesday, women’s professional sports organization Athletes Unlimited announced its new commissioner for their softball league launching June 7: Kim Ng.

Ng’s biggest hurdle will be making AUSL stick, which has proven a challenge for other pro softball leagues. But she’s done the difficult before, climbing MLB’s ladder for three decades before becoming the first woman to serve as a GM of a major American men’s professional sports team. She ran the Marlins from 2021 to 2023.

“I think what we’re trying to do is to have a seamless transition to the college model,” Ng told Front Office Sports. “There are some great indicators right now in terms of the popularity of softball and youth softball.” 

Those indicators include two million people watching the 2024 Women’s College World Series on ESPN, a new record. This number was a 24% increase from the 2023 season and up 3% from the previous all-time high between Florida and Michigan in 2015. 

The 2024 WCWS also had strong attendance. Five of the nine sessions between May 30 and June 6th last year were sellouts. The highest attendance record ever (12,566) was set during Session 2 which featured Texas against Stanford and Oklahoma State versus Florida. Overall, it had the third-highest average attendance (12,200 per session) in the tournament’s history. 

The problem that no league has previously found an answer for is getting those numbers to translate to the next level. 

The Women’s Pro Softball League and National Pro Fastpitch were two of America’s most established professional softball leagues. The WPSL was founded in 1997 and folded in 2001. In 2004 National Pro Fastpitch revived the defunct league before ceasing operations in 2021. Over the league’s 17-year history, it never expanded to more than seven teams. 

AUSL will start with four teams in 2025. The Bandits, Blaze, Talons, and Volts will play a 24-game touring season making stops in 6-8 different cities. In 2026 the league will expand to six teams and be city-based. 

Players currently listed on AUSL’s website include former Florida catcher Jordan Roberts, UCLA pitcher Rachel Garcia and Nebraska catcher Taylor Edwards. 

Most of the stars in college softball heading into the 2025 season won’t graduate until next season, including pitcher NiJaree Canady at Texas Tech and three-time national champion catcher Reese Atwood from Texas. Seniors on AU’s wishlist could include Texas A&M pitcher Emiley Kennedy and Miami (Ohio) outfielder Jenna Golembiewski.

In 2028, softball will return to the Olympics after being absent in 2024, giving AUSL a runway of time to capitalize on the added attention to the sport. But Ng’s plans for building a sustainable league start with creating more synergy between the college game and the pros. 

“Number one, we’ve got our opening day coming immediately following the College World Series,” Ng said. The CWS ends June 6.  “So hopefully all of those fans that are tuned into the college game will move seamlessly into the pro landscape. Number two, we actually just started distributing our ‘golden tickets,’ which are going to draftees of AUSL.” 

Ng said the plan is to present these tickets live at college games this season. They have 12 which will be given directly to the athletes, signaling that they’ve been drafted by Athletes Unlimited. Ng is hopeful this untraditional approach will appeal to fans and the athletes themselves.

Ng’s career move to Athletes Unlimited follows her departure from the Marlins in 2023 after leading the franchise to the playoffs in her final season. Ng’s contract included a mutual option for 2024. She left the organization after the Marlins did not offer her an extension and owner Bruce Sherman looked to hire a president of baseball operations. 

Ng has not completely ruled out a return to MLB. 

“I guess I would never say never,” Ng said about the possibility of a MLB homecoming. “Right now my focus is really launching AUSL and just getting it into as good a spot as we can get it to.”