I recently attended a historic National Pro-Fastpitch game. The back-to-back reigning NPF champions, the Chicago Bandits, were hosting the Beijing Shougang Eagles in their first game in the NPF.

In an unprecedented move, the U.S.-based NPF added the Chinese team as its sixth team in the league. Aside from a few American players, the majority of the Eagles players are Chinese and are among the pool of players training for the 2020 Olympics. As recently announced, softball will once again be a medal sport in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

For the 2017 season, the Eagles will play 50 games in the home stadiums of the other five NPF teams. A permanent home base is expected to be in place for the Eagles by the 2018 season.

The overall goal of the NPF is “to impact the growth, development and popularity of this incredible game on a global scale,” said Cheri Kempf, commissioner, NPF. The NPF is working hard to build its own success as well as the future success of the sport.

The Eagles aren’t the only international team in the NPF. The Bandits have added eight Australian players to the team. “The deal with the Bandits will improve Australia’s chances of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics,” said Andrew Utting, high performance manager, Softball Australia.

These moves will have several positive impacts. With the NPF being a global entity, will other foreign teams follow the lead of the Chinese team? Will other foreign players come over individually or in blocks, like the Aussie Elite Eight? Things are happening in the NPF, and the world of softball is truly global.

— John Wroblewski, distribution specialist