By: Lauren Giron
Published on: October 28, 2024
The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) was founded in 2012 and played its first match in 2013.[1] Until very recently, it was the only professional women’s soccer league in the United States.[2] Even with professional women’s soccer gaining significant traction in the U.S., the professional athletes who play in the NWSL have still had to fight the league on many occasions to improve its playing environments, employment benefits, and career freedoms.[3] One of the ways that players have been able to be a part of this fight is through various collective bargaining agreements (CBAs).[4] A collective bargaining agreement is a process of negotiation and contracting where a union and an employer discuss and determine terms of employment including payment, leave, health and safety policies, and more.[5] The first groundbreaking CBA that the NWSL and the NWSL Union (NWSLPA — NWSL Player’s Association) entered into was ratified in 2022.[6] In the 2022 CBA, the NWSLPA focused primarily on an increase in salary for players as well as paid parental leave.[7]
The 2022 CBA was the precursor for this year’s CBA that was approved on August 22, 2024.[8] In addition to adding new terms, this CBA extended the previous contract until 2030.[9] The most significant improvement that this CBA made for NWSL players is the implementation of Standard Player Agreements that aligned with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), which resulted in the granting of unrestricted free agency.[10] The CBA also safeguards all player contracts by requiring that all player transfers, whether inter- or intra-league, have player consent.[11] In the same vein, the CBA also made the NWSL the first American professional sports league to abolish both college and expansion drafts.[12]
The current CBA also creates noteworthy improvements to player’s physical and mental health by requiring team physicians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, sports scientists, a licensed mental health provider, and a massage therapist.[13] In addition, the CBA prioritizes the mental health of players by allowing them to take up to six months of paid mental health leave.[14] Highlighting the NWSL’s recognition that more players are becoming mothers, the CBA also expanded the NWSL’s parental leave and child care benefits.[15] The NWSL also agreed to raise the base salary cap, an increase from $3.3 million at the start of 2025 to $5.1 million by 2030.[16] Additionally, there will be no limit for any individual player’s maximum salary and the league minimum salary will hit $82,500 by 2030.[17] The policies enacted in this CBA have created one of the most progressive and pro-labor arrangements in U.S. professional women’s sports.[18]
Several players in the NWSL have expressed their opinions on the new CBA since it’s ratification in August of this year.[19] Some have expressed that they are pleased to see the NWSL take concrete steps to make players happy and respected and how in turn that makes a better league where more world-class players will want to play.[20]
For players, one of the most impactful changes that the CBA brings to the table is requiring player consent before any inter- or intra-league transfer is made. For example, Ashley Sanchez, from the Washington Spirit, was traded overnight during the 2024 Draft.[21] This trade came as a complete shock to Sanchez –– she had been a successful member of the team since they drafted her in 2020 and the trade happened overnight with no input from Sanchez herself on the trade to the North Carolina Courage.[22] Now, with the implementation of the 2024 CBA, players must consent before any team can trade them away.[23] The elimination of both the expansion and college draft also adds to player’s abilities to decide their own fate and career trajectory.[24] Now, both incoming and returning players have the ability to talk to multiple teams and get a feel for where they will be the best fit before making a decision. The new CBA also guarantees that all players whose contracts expire will automatically become free agents in the league with the opportunity to either resign with their previous NWSL team or with a new one.[25]
This updated CBA creates space for returning and incoming NWSL players to feel respected by their employer and ensure that their voices are heard. The NWSLPA is comprised of leadership roles and player members.[26] Both leadership roles and player members are current or past players in the NWSL who know what it has been like to see this league start from the ground up in 2013.[27] The 2024 CBA gave players benefits they deserve and the ability to be the decider of their own soccer destinies. Now, NWSL players can focus on their game and growing the game for those who will come after them.
[1] NWSL Editor, Events and Milestones, NWSL (Mar. 20, 2024), https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/nwsl-media-kit-events-and-milestones.
[2] Jenn Nelson, New Women’s Pro Soccer: USL Super League Launches Inaugural Weekend, Forbes (Aug. 16, 2024, 2:52 PM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennnelson/2024/08/16/new-womens-pro-soccer-usl-super-league-launches-inaugural-weekend/.
[3] See NWSL Players Announce Groundbreaking CBA, First American League to Eliminate the Draft, NWSLPA, https://www.nwslplayers.com/news/nwsl-players-announce-groundbreaking-cba%2C-first-american-league-to-eliminate-the-draft-#:~:text=August%2022%2C%202024%20%E2%80%93%20Today%2C,establishes%20guaranteed%20contracts%2C%20safeguards%20Player (highlighting the lengthy negotiations that the NWSLPA participated in to achieve the union’s goals).
[4] See Louisa Thomas, How the Women of the N.W.S.L. Got Freedom That Their Male Counterparts Don’t Have, The New Yorker (Aug. 25, 2024), https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/how-the-women-of-the-nwsl-got-freedom-that-their-male-counterparts-dont-have (recognizing the legal battles that many U.S. based athletes have fought through to gain the minimal free agency rights that they have been granted thus far).
[5] See G.A. Res. 217 (III) A, Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Dec. 10, 1948) (noting that there is a recognized right to form and join trade unions).
[6] CBA, NWSLPA, https://www.nwslplayers.com/cba.
[7] Id.
[8] See NWSL Editor, NWSL and NWSLPA Agree to Historic Collective Bargaining Agreement Two Years Ahead of Expiration, NWSL (Aug. 22,2024), https://www.nwslsoccer.com/news/nwsl-and-nwslpa-agree-to-historic-collective-bargaining-agreement (arguing that the new 2024 CBA aligns the NWSL with global standards on labor).
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Dee Lab, NWSLPA, NWSL Agree to Blockbuster New CBA, Just Women’s Sports (Aug. 22, 2024), https://justwomenssports.com/reads/nwsl-nwslpa-releases-collective-bargaining-agreement-cba-eliminating-drafts/.
[13] NWSL Editor, supra note 8.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Id.
[18] Kevin Baxter, NWSL Agrees to Sweeping New Contract That is Among the Most Pro-Labor in Women’s Sports, L.A. Times (Aug. 22, 2024, 4:40 AM), https://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/angel-city-fc/story/2024-08-22/nwsl-agrees-to-sweeping-new-cba-that-ends-drafts-boosts-salaries-and-more.
[19] Matthew Coles, NWSL Players Say New CBA Makes Them Feel Like True Professionals, Associated Press (Aug. 23, 2024, 10:54 PM), https://apnews.com/article/nwsl-cba-players-rights-eeb874fc1175add8069b92eac9e0ff17 (noting that some players who have been a part of negotiating both CBA’s feel that this CBA has been a long time coming).
[20] See id. (including the opinion of Imani Dorsey, a NWSL player since 2018, that a player affairs manager has increased the levels of professionalism on the team).
[21] Emma Hruby, Ashley Sanchez ‘Shocked and Heartbroken’ By Washington Spirit Trade, Just Women’s Sports (Jan. 15, 2024), https://justwomenssports.com/reads/ashley-sanchez-spirit-trade-north-carolina-nwsl-washington/.
[22] Id.
[23] NWSL Editor, supra note 8.
[24] Lab, supra note 12.
[25] JWS Staff, NWSL Free Agency in 2023: How Does it Work? Who is Eligible?, Just Women’s Sports (Sept. 22, 2023), https://justwomenssports.com/reads/nwsl-free-agency-eligibility-explainer-2023-2024/ (explaining the previous rules and regulations regarding free agency, before the implementation of the 2024 CBA).
[26] NWSLPA, supra note 6.
[27] NWSL Editor, supra note 1.