WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 15: #23 Tori Huster of the Washington Spirit watches the field before the game… [+] North Carolina Courage vs. Washington Spirit game at Audi Field in Washington, DC on October 15, 2023. (Photo by Brad Smith/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
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It’s almost inconceivable that it was less than six years ago that the National Women’s Soccer League first recognized the Players Association as the exclusive negotiating body for its players, and that only two years ago the league and players entered into a collective bargaining agreement. On Thursday, after several changes in NWSL leadership and a significant shift away from women’s sports, the two sides announced a new collective bargaining agreement that extends beyond the current agreement and runs through 2030.
There’s more to it than a collective victory for the players that reflects the economic growth the NWSL has experienced under NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman’s tenure: It’s nothing short of revolutionary, a rethinking of the power dynamics in the relationship between leagues and teams, and a codification of the idea that women’s sports leagues don’t simply have to follow the established model of men’s leagues in the United States.
“This CBA is transformative, not just for women’s sports, but for American sports,” NWSLPA Executive Director Megan Burke told me in an email this afternoon. “Throughout these negotiations, we have been well aware that we have advocated for generations for athletes to have the same autonomy and free agency rights that most American workers deserve. The same ideas that free NWSL players to reach their potential also apply to other leagues, sports and men. These leagues will benefit from being able to see our proof of concept: unlocking the potential of our athletes is unlocking the potential of their leagues.”
The landmark agreement, which follows an existing CBA that runs through 2026, extends the relationship beyond the NWSL’s current media rights deal through 2030, ensuring no shortage of new financial incentives for players in the league. The league’s salary cap, which was $682,500 in 2021, will increase to $3.3 million in 2025 and $5.1 million in 2030. (A salary floor has also been set.)
But there is a shared understanding of where both sides in the negotiations currently find themselves, born out of the approach and urgency of an agreement that doesn’t begin until 2027.
As Vanity Fair’s Tom Kurth reported, it was the NWSL that approached the PA about negotiating an extension to its current contract, not the other way around. Both the league and the PA considered the U.S.’s elimination in the round of 16 of the 2023 World Cup to be a critical moment in which the U.S. could lose its competitive edge. But it wouldn’t be conclusive outside of a context in which women’s soccer’s dominance is clearly aligned with the financial benefits that come with being the best domestic league in the world.
Perhaps most notably, this deal goes far beyond the four-year, $240 million media rights deal the NWSL signed in November 2023. This is a lot of money the league doesn’t have yet. Berman didn’t do this to put the league in debt. She did it to hang on to a moving train and ensure that the NWSL still employs the vast majority of the league’s 26 players who participated in the U.S.-Brazil Olympic Finals until 2027 rolls around.
But money alone can’t guarantee that. And the league’s new rules for player acquisition are downright European. The draft, while a given in U.S. leagues, is treated like indentured servitude for many players around the country and around the world. The elimination puts NWSL teams on an equal footing with their overseas rivals, allowing them to secure and develop the best young players at home and abroad. The free agency system also ensures that players can choose their positions with strategy, geography and happiness in mind. And with guaranteed contracts and player approval for trades, players aren’t stuck in the unbelievable situation of not knowing when or where they’ll be working, or whether they’ll be paid commensurate with the privilege once they arrive somewhere.
It’s already garnering attention from people like WNBPA vice president Satou Sabari, who expects the WNBPA to opt out of the current CBA at the end of the 2024 season, which would put the current contract at the end of the 2025 season.
“I think it’s great that athletes feel like they’re human beings and not just part of a business that’s being traded anywhere,” Sabally told me before Thursday’s game between the Dallas Wings and the New York Liberty. “I think there’s power within athletes and there’s a human decency to the job. You have a life, you have kids going to school, and that’s about more than what jersey you wear or what city you play in. So, obviously, that’s important to athletes.”
Simply put, this Framework is not just a reflection of the values Berman held prior to becoming NWSL Commissioner and the values he has implemented during his tenure at the helm of the NWSL, it is a two-pronged approach to maintaining global dominance by securing the full support of our players, and it was only made possible thanks to the organizational skills and foresight of Burke and NWSLPA President Tori Huster.
Burke put it succinctly to Vanity Fair: “This is a tectonic shift in American sports.”
And the aftershocks are just beginning.