Athletes Unlimited Softball League named Kim Ng as its commissioner Wednesday, entrusting the league’s expansion this summer and beyond to the trailblazing baseball executive who was the first female general manager in a major men’s North American sport.
Ng, 56, who ran baseball operations for the Miami Marlins from 2020 to 2023, had served as a senior adviser to the league as it prepares for a four-team, 10-city, 24-game tour that will serve as a test run for its move next year to six teams in permanent locations.
“I love this sport,” Ng told ESPN. “I grew up playing softball. From middle school on, I played softball, played in college and have, at some points in my career, worked to try and help strengthen the game. Have always kept my eye on it from afar, as I was in baseball, pursuing other things. But it’s been a big part of my life. I have four sisters. Three of us played in college, so it’s been a big part of our lives.
“When you talk about this, I think it’s part of a movement. I think we’re in the middle of this transcendence of women’s professional sports, now a part of the mainstream conversation. And that’s exciting to me.”
While past attempts at professional softball leagues have failed, Athletes Unlimited has for five years run annual softball events out of Rosemont, Illinois, in which players accumulate points in games and the one with the most wins the event. Following the AUSL season, Athletes Unlimited — which also runs women’s basketball and volleyball competitions — will hold the AUSL All-Star Cup, 24 more games in Illinois and North Carolina to crown another individual champion.
In Ng, the league has tabbed a seasoned executive who spent more than 30 years in the Major League Baseball ecosystem, ascending from intern with the Chicago White Sox to assistant general manager with the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers to a senior vice president role at MLB before her time with the Marlins.
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After taking over a Miami team that made the postseason in 2020, the Marlins lost 90-plus games in consecutive seasons. Following a surprise playoff run in 2023, Marlins owner Bruce Sherman sought to hire a president of baseball operations above Ng. She left the organization, which has rebuilt since Ng’s departure, went 62-100 last year and has started this season a surprising 8-8.
Running a league, Ng acknowledged, is different than running a team. But with AUSL’s stated intention to involve players in the decision-making processes and the entire league owned by one group, Ng’s role is different than that of her former employer.
“When I hear the word commissioner, it just means leadership,” she said. “And I think being at Major League Baseball really helped me to understand the commissioner’s office and the services that they provide. It’s not just to understand what the clubs need, but you have to lead as well.”
Doing so, Ng said, means focusing on stability over growth, and the hope is that the response in each of the 10 cities on the schedule will lead to it. AUSL’s season will start June 7 in Rosemont (Talons vs. Bandits) and Wichita, Kansas (Volts vs. Blaze), the two cities in which it will play the most games over the season. Other cities on the schedule include Tuscaloosa, Alabama, which will host the championship series July 26-28, as well as Sulphur, Louisiana; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Norman, Oklahoma; Omaha, Nebraska; Seattle; Salt Lake City; and Round Rock, Texas.
Ng said the league plans to lean on social media to boost its profile. In a video posted Sunday, Virginia Tech right-hander Emma Lemley was presented with a “golden ticket,” an indication she had been among the dozen college players selected in the draft. The AUSL plans to hand out more golden tickets in the coming weeks, culminating in ESPNU broadcasting the “AUSL College Draft Show” on May 3.
“The reality is we need to reach more people,” said Jon Patricof, the co-founder of Athletes Unlimited. “We need to get the product in front of more people. We need to expand the presence of the sport.”
Beyond the media efforts, the AUSL is bringing together some of the sport’s biggest names. The four general managers are Cat Osterman (Volts), Lisa Fernandez (Talons), Dana Sorensen (Blaze) and Jenny Dalton-Hill (Bandits). Advisers to the league include Jennie Finch and ESPN analyst Jessica Mendoza.
Softball will get an even greater spotlight in three years as well with its Olympic return at the Los Angeles Games.
“There are all these dots out there that I think just need to be connected in a smart, thoughtful way,” Ng said. “If we can do that, we’re still a few years away from ’28, but if we can do that and make some good moves, hopefully we take gold back in ’28, and that’s another springboard for the sport.”
Ng did not suggest how long she intended to remain commissioner, saying: “I’m not looking at it in terms of time. I want to make sure that this launch goes well, and I want to get us up running and in a good, positive direction.” But Patricof spoke of Ng as if he saw her as an integral piece of AUSL’s future.
“A very important part of getting things right is who you put in charge, and attracting the best caliber of talent not only on but off the field is essential,” he said. “Kim sets the bar. ‘A’ talent attracts ‘A’ talent.
“She has been able to align the sport in a very powerful way. I will say one thing that really stands out is there have been people involved in the sport at the college level who have sat on the sidelines in pro softball. Kim has helped bring them into the league and into the sport. That’s a major differentiator. We have all the greats aligned, past and present.”
