This weekend, for the first time ever a professional softball game
will air on broadcast TV. It’s Game 1 of Athletes Unlimited Softball League’s
championship series on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on ABC, between the league’s Chicago Bandits and Utah Talons.
It’s a huge milestone for the league, which only launched in June 2025. The league has six teams that play a 25-game season; the second season this summer was the first time they played in their home markets. AUSL is part of Athletes Unlimited, a six-year-old network of women’s sports leagues across volleyball, basketball, and softball.
Taking the AUSL to the next level is one of the most accomplished women in baseball—and now softball. Kim Ng was the general manager of the Miami Marlins, which made her the first woman to serve as GM of a major American men’s professional sports team. (Before the Marlins, she was an assistant GM at the Yankees and the Dodgers.) In 2025, she signed on as the AUSL’s first commissioner.
We caught up recently as she was getting ready for this pivotal moment. The sport’s second season kicked off with some new investors—Milwaukee Brewers chairman and owner Mark Attansio and execs from the Minor League Baseball ownership group Ryan Sanders Baseball. The Brewers are the first MLB club to invest directly in the AUSL.
But the MLB itself invested at the AUSL’s launch,
with the goal of helping “the fledgling softball circuit become an established, sustainable entity.” Its partnership includes joint sales and marketing efforts and broadcasts on the MLB Network.
On the rocket ship that is women’s sports, softball is a few steps behind basketball or soccer. But fandom is growing, and the sport is on the precipice of something bigger. NCAA softball drew 1.2 million viewers on this year’s Opening Day. The sport will have an even bigger stage during the 2028 Olympics. Softball made its Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996 but disappeared in 2008—now
it’s set to return in two years in L.A. Like women’s hockey
broke out at the 2026 Olympics, so could softball in 2028.
This season, the AUSL itself averaged 198,000 viewers across ESPN platforms and sold out 23 regular-season games. Merch sales grew 200% year-over-year. Ng is working to reach fans of other women’s sports, baseball fans, and those million viewers who are watching college softball. “There is such a thirst for women’s sports now that we’re not competing for different fan bases,” she says. “There’s enough to go around.”
Ng’s impact on the MLB was clear. Before she was appointed, the Marlins had three women apply to an open internship spot. The next year, after Ng was announced, 30 women were among intern applicants. “I think women just didn’t necessarily know that those opportunities existed, but once they did, I think it became—why not?” she reflects.
If you’re not watching women’s softball, Ng has a message about what you’re missing. “This is an incredibly action-packed game,” she says. Karlyn Pickens, a pitcher who was the No. 1 draft pick, is on the verge of passing the 80-miles-per-hour mark from 43 feet, Ng says. “Their swings are amazing. Their mechanics are amazing. Just their sheer skill and raw athletic ability, and the fast-paced action that happens on the field—you can see greatness at any moment.”
Emma Hinchliffeemma.hinchliffe@fortune.comThe Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’
s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.
