Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Feeling Unlimited, Part 2: Athletes Unlimited's Cheri Kempf on Presenting a Platform for World-Class Athletes, Developing Longer Shelf Life in the Offseason

20/06/2025

Feeling Unlimited, Part 2: Athletes Unlimited's Cheri Kempf on Presenting a Platform for World-Class Athletes, Developing Longer Shelf Life in the Offseason League Commissioner Kim Ng, a trailblazer for women's sports, helps lead the charge By Kristian Hern ndez, Senior Editor

Friday, June 20, 2025 - 7:01 am

Print This Story | Subscribe

Story Highlights

After just a week of official games, the Athletes Unlimited Softball League has already found a rightful spot in the sports conversation. With real-time interviews with athletes at premium positions on the diamond, media-rights partnerships with ESPN and investment by Major League Baseball, and complete backing by longtime champion of women's sports and first-ever AUSL Commissioner Kim Ng, the nascent league is turning heads in a crowded sports landscape.

On the production side, Athletes Unlimited Softball League Chief Broadcasting Officer Cheri Kempf is responsible for the league's broadcasting and distribution strategy. A veteran of both sports and broadcast, she relies on her experience and knowledge to connect the greater sports audience to the upstart league. SVG sat down with her to discuss why she wanted to be a part of this new venture, the finer details of the production and content plan, how this is an opportunity to further the conversation about heightened coverage of women's sports, and more.

What went into your decision to join the Athletes Unlimited Softball League?

I was the commissioner of National Pro Fastpitch, and [Athletes Unlimited CEO/co-founder] Jon Patricof called me and said they were going to launch women's ice hockey and thought that they would launch a second sport. I thought he was leaning toward volleyball since he had already met with some people, but he was talking to me about the viability of softball. He described this as a shoulder league to NPF, so my goal was to help him do it in an easier way. From my perspective, this would allow our players to get another paycheck, have another opportunity to play at the highest level, and, hopefully, [become] full-time professional softball players. At that point, I'm working with [Athletes Unlimited] as an advisor to suggest locations, explain what the budget looks like, and run them through the rules of how the league would operate.

Athletes Unlimited Softball League's Cheri Kemp: I never want it to be just because it's women; I believe that the game itself is a true contender and can hold its own in the sports and entertainment space.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hits, and it kills NFP, so I fully crossed over [to Athletes Unlimited] and basically volunteered to handle broadcasting. At the end of the day, I love television and the magic of it all. People don't know all of its mechanics and that a lot goes into getting the right shot and telling the story in the right way. I've been passionate about softball throughout my entire life, but I'm also passionate about television and covering the sport, so I very much looked forward to doing that with this league.

Tell us more about the league's production philosophy.

When you talk to professional athletes, they'll tell you that it's a faster game and it's about taking another step up the competitive ladder. Not every college superstar survives in the professional ranks. When I was an analyst, I wanted viewers to understand how extraordinarily talented these women are and how special the players are. In our real-time player interviews, it takes a lot to focus on the game they're playing while showing their personality. During our [in-game] interview with [Blazes catcher] Taylor Edwards, Jon texts me and says he has no idea how she's pulling this off: she's simultaneously typing in what pitch to throw and talking to us. It was incredible to have the mental capacity to execute both. Our goal is always to help people understand, and that's why our on-air talent on these games is super important. Our fanbase isn't filled with former players who know the ins and outs of the game, so we have to explain it in a way that's comprehendible. Most fans have never had a glove on their hand to try to catch a line drive coming in at 75 mph from only 25 ft. away.

The league's production value relies on in-game access, such as this interview with Talons infielder Tori Vidales.

Similar to not every player's making it as a professional, our production isn't built for everyone. Our broadcasts aren't about showing up an hour before, cutting the show, and heading home. I'm very critical of directors because I'm listening to what they're saying and they need to be one play ahead, talking about the next shot that they need or the player coming up to bat next. I want people that are really invested. I want our graphics operators to sell their work if it supports the story we're telling or our camera operators to sell their shot if they find a certain player's parent in the stands. Senior Director Casey Carter, who produces our shows, always says that, if he's walking through the living room and sees a two-box of a player side by side with action, it stops him in his tracks. We're a new product, so we have to be sticky to people. They have to have a reason to turn us on and then find another reason to stay.

How do you extend the life of Athletes Unlimited after its inaugural season? How are you gaining new fans through digital platforms?

We're able to get fans invested in our players through storytelling. Senior Producer/Editor Stephanie Kane leads two full days of content capture and interviews with the players for our broadcasts. Once she's done editing everything and ready to distribute over the air, our social-media team also has access to it. A lot of times, our sales team will also
LINK: https://www.sportsvideo.org/2025/06/20/feeling-unlimited-part-2-athlet...
See more stories from svg

More from Sports Video Group

27/06/2025

How Smarter Video Compression is Creating a Sustainable Future

How smarter compression is creating a sustainable future By Michael Burns Monday, June 23, 2025 - 14:13 Print This Story Live sport is especially vulnerab...

27/06/2025

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland

RTL Group To Acquire Sky Deutschland By George Bevir, Editorial Director, SVG Europe Friday, June 27, 2025 - 8:00 am Print This Story | Subscribe Story ...

27/06/2025

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology

Frictionless, At Scale: The Current State of Live Video Streaming Techology Leaders from Bitmovin, Comcast Technology Solutions, Harmonic, IMAX, and Phenix brea...

27/06/2025

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending Chicago Cubs

Marquee Sports Network's Nick Steger on Meeting the Moment of the Contending...

27/06/2025

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandemic Era

NHL Draft 2025: The League Is Primed for First Decentralized Draft in Non-Pandem...

26/06/2025

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for the Future of the RSN, Local Media Business

10th-Annual SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Presents Useful Roadmap for th...

26/06/2025

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid

The Big Cloud Debate: Public vs. Private vs. Hybrid Tech leaders from CineSys, Diversified, and Net Insight breaks down all flavors of cloud By Jason Dachman, ...

26/06/2025

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Generation of Sports TV Technicians

Program Productions' Jess Kowatch on Training the Next and Current Gener...

25/06/2025

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY

SVG College Summit 2025: Select Sessions Now Available to Watch on SVG PLAY Tackling the latest in college sports video: NIL, live production, virtual productio...

25/06/2025

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO Booths

ESPN Is Set To Bring AR Graphics to Wimbledon, Revamps Bunker and Studio 18 VO B...

24/06/2025

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center

2025 NBA Draft: ABC/ESPN Prepares for Two-Day Draft at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By M...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: Google Cloud's Jane Day on the Impact of AI on ...

24/06/2025

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation in Sports

Cloud Broadcast Tech Update: AWS's Dana LaGattuta on Data-Driven Innovation ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Dublin Opener Sees Sky Sports Take Remote Route

Lions live: Dublin opener sees Sky Sports take remote route By Fergal Ringrose ...

24/06/2025

British & Irish Lions Men's Tour: Pumas Maul Lions as S4C and TG4 Deliver First-Ever Joint Host in Dublin

Pumas maul Lions as S4C and TG4 deliver first-ever joint host in Dublin By Ferg...

24/06/2025

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center

ABC/ESPN Prepares for 2025 NBA Draft, the First at Barclays Center Partners Game Creek Video, CP Communications, NEP Specialty Capture will be on hand By Mark ...

23/06/2025

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NBC Sports, Warner Bros. Discovery, and AWS

Adventures in Live Cloud Production: Stories From the Trenches with MLB, NHL, NB...

23/06/2025

Finding the Edge: How Badger & Combes Produces Live-Streamed Coverage of County Cricket for LancsTV

Finding the edge: How Badger & Combes produces live-streamed coverage of county ...

23/06/2025

Masters of Madness: New Football Format Shakes Up the Rules of Sportainment

Masters of Madness: New football format shakes up the rules of sportainment By Adrian Pennington Monday, June 16, 2025 - 11:38 Print This Story The ball i...

23/06/2025

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Building Near Denver

New State-of-the-Art Mountain Media Center Launches in Former Starz Encore Build...

23/06/2025

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production Facility at Disney's 7 Hudson Square

ESPN Says Goodbye to Seaport Studios, Hello to New State-of-the-Art Production F...

20/06/2025

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can Play

A True Test? Cricket's Growth on the Global Stage and the Role Broadcast Can...

20/06/2025

Sky Sports Goes Large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR Graphics, UHD and a Pop Up Channel

Sky Sports goes large for the British & Irish Lions Tour with AR graphics, UHD a...

20/06/2025

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, Legacy

ESPN's Men's College World Series Finals Coverage Combines Innovation, L...

19/06/2025

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning George Wensel Technical Achievement Award

SVG Rewind: PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on Winning Geor...

18/06/2025

Technology Focus: Fan Expectations Drive Advances in the In-Stadium Experience

Technology focus: Fan expectations drive advances in the in-stadium experience By Jo Ruddock Tuesday, June 3, 2025 - 08:36 Print This Story For years, att...

18/06/2025

Making Connections: How Stadiums Are Meeting the Ever-Growing Demand for Data and Connectivity

Making connections: How stadiums are meeting the ever-growing demand for data an...

18/06/2025

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at 2024 Paris Olympics

SVG Venues & Teams Summit Keynote: RWS Global Powers the Stadium Environment at ...

18/06/2025

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League Victory Parade

SVG Rewind: Behind the Scenes of Producing Tottenham Hotspur's Europa League...

17/06/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon on Powering DTC Streams for Teams Reclaiming Media Rights

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Mercury Intermedia's Tom Richardson, Mike Ligon o...

17/06/2025

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, Brand Measurement

Total Sports Performance from Relo Metrics, VideoAmp, Offers Next-Level Media, B...

17/06/2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025

From Stage to Stream: Producing Live Esports Events in 2025 Leaders from ESL FACEIT Group, Riot Games, and more break down the latest trends By Jason Dachman, ...

17/06/2025

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS's Stefan Wistuba

Inside FIFA 2025 Club World Cup Operations With FIFA's Oscar Sanchez, HBS...

17/06/2025

Production Ambitions: Over Exposed on Making the National League Promotion Final for DAZN as Spectacular as Possible

Production ambitions: Over Exposed on making the National League Promotion Final...

17/06/2025

DAZN Brings Global Ambition to U.S. Soil With Production of 2025 FIFA Club World Cup

DAZN Brings Global Ambition to U.S. Soil With Production of 2025 FIFA Club World...

16/06/2025

Grass Valley 4K Cameras Head to Greece for View Master Events' New Production Truck

Grass Valley 4K Cameras Head to Greece for View Master Events' New Productio...

16/06/2025

Behind The Broadcast Booth, Ep. 3: Golf. My Future. My Game. Founder and CEO Craig Kirby Talks Advocacy in Sports and More

Behind The Broadcast Booth, Ep. 3: Golf. My Future. My Game. Founder and CEO Cra...

16/06/2025

The REMI Revolution Is Here: How Remote Production Technology in Esports Pioneers a New Age of Broadcast

The REMI Revolution Is Here: How Remote Production Technology in Esports Pioneer...

16/06/2025

From Super Bowl to Indy 500, New Orleans Artist Frenchy' Captures Energy of Sports Production on Canvas

From Super Bowl to Indy 500, New Orleans Artist Frenchy' Captures Energy of...

16/06/2025

NFL Films Enhances Post Studio With Dolby Atmos Audio

NFL Films Enhances Post Studio With Dolby Atmos Audio Forty-three channels of audio enable the facility to migrate to immersive By Dan Daley, Audio Editor Mo...

16/06/2025

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Storj's David Colantuoni on Expanding Cloud-Based Storage to Live Sports Production

SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Storj's David Colantuoni on Expanding Cloud-Based...

16/06/2025

Grass Valley 4K Cameras Head to Greece for View Master Events' New OB Truck

Grass Valley 4K Cameras Head to Greece for View Master Events' New OB Truck By Ken Kerschbaumer, Editorial Director Monday, June 16, 2025 - 2:33 pm Pri...

13/06/2025

SVG Sit-Down: Backblaze's Gleb Budman Talks Products, Partnerships, and the Growth in Cloud Storage

SVG Sit-Down: Backblaze's Gleb Budman Talks Products, Partnerships, and the ...

13/06/2025

SVG Sit-Down: DAZN's Walker Jacobs Calls Streaming the FIFA Club World Cup The Most Ambitious Thing We've Ever Done in the U.S.'

SVG Sit-Down: DAZN's Walker Jacobs Calls Streaming the FIFA Club World Cup ...

13/06/2025

New Sponsor Spotlight: Vecima Networks' Paul Strickland on How Improving QoE for Sports Fans Can Deliver Real ROI

New Sponsor Spotlight: Vecima Networks' Paul Strickland on How Improving QoE...

13/06/2025

Pitch Perspective: Where's Next for Specialty Cameras in Soccer?

Pitch Perspective: Where's Next for Specialty Cameras in Soccer? Leaders from Sky Austria and ACS discuss the possibilities of camera placement pitchside B...