1. Expansion of national organizations is happening not consolidation. The top 3 teams at 18U PGF in 2025 didn't exists 10 years ago. Two of them didn’t exits 5 years ago. Arizona Rising, Lady Dukes(2016) & Unity Johnson. In addition, franchise teams, continue to merge in local teams and are expanding.
2. Fall season at 14U and up is driven by the recruiting calendar and the September 1st contact date. This second recruiting window is essential for Junior year 3-star prospects to get recruited and a kickoff for all Sophomores in the recruiting process. It will not change and is a necessity given the recruiting calendar. Prior to 16U practice and training should be a priority. It would be nice if they changed the recruiting calendar but that is not happening. A good start would be to eliminate winter games. I don’t see this happening as tournaments are more lucrative than training for indoor facilities.
3. Most softball teams under 14u are playing 12 months a year. In softball the reason is not qualifiers, it is coaches who don’t know how to practice and parents cannot help themselves. Coaches and parents believe more games are better and if they are not playing games they are falling behind. This will not change unless indoor facilities transition from running tournaments to hosting training. I don’t see this happening as tournaments are more lucrative. It continues 16U to 18U for the reason in #2.
4. High School Softball will still be important as it drives parents and players egos. There are no local news articles written on travel teams. It is the only time parents can show off how good their daughter is to the community at large. It is also the only time the players who did not make the big-name club teams can brag about getting that hit or striking out that D1 commit. Pounding ones chest makes the world go round. Read this page during high school season. As long as there is no club recruiting in spring high school will remain.
5. JUCO is not competitive enough to be an option in softball. Mid-Majors will be the place to be with the transfer portal. Summer leagues will grow in popularity for players who don’t get opportunities during the season.
6. Interesting thought but most campuses will have difficulty drawing a crowd in the summer months and they would never try to do this in the spring. Alabama, Oklahoma, Georgia do not sound like fun in July. Talk with the AUSL players they love being in places like Chicago.
7. Any separate governing body will include will include Baseball(Diamond Sports) and most likely Olympic Sports. There needs to be some centralization to make sense financially. No doubt 2030 will look different than today as football continues to evolve.