The
Chicago Bandits started their first season in
Elgin, Illinois at
Judson University. The original plans were for the Bandits to play at Judson temporarily while a potential $5 million softball stadium was built nearby. Those plans did not come to fruition, and the Bandits eventually moved to a new
ballpark in
Rosemont, Illinois for 2011.
Team NPF and Bound-4-Beijing Tour As part of the
USA Softball Team Bound 4 Beijing Tour in preparation for the 2008 Olympics, two games were scheduled between the US Olympic softball team and a team of NPF All-Stars. The announced roster for Team NPF was: NPF veterans
Monica Abbott,
Cat Osterman,
Kelly Kretschman,
Vicky Galindo and
Jennie Finch were on the Olympic team roster. Team NPF was coached by Oklahoma head softball coach
Patty Gasso and private instructor
Cindy Bristow. Bristow was head coach and assistant general manager of the
Georgia Pride, which later became the
Florida Wahoos, a team in the
WPSL. The Olympic team beat Team NPF in both games, on June 6 by a score of 10-8 and on June 14 by a score of 6-0. On the same tour, the US Olympic team beat the
Washington Glory 2-0 on May 10, and beat the
Akron Racers 6-2 on July 22. ==Player acquisition==