The NWSL's new CBA is a game changer for women athletes
The NWSL's new CBA is a game changer for women athletes
There is nothing I love more than labor wins.
Hi, friends.Welcome to Power Plays!
First off, a plug: Next Tuesday, August 27, I’m going to be hosting a talk at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with the great Julie Kliegman about their book, “Mind Game: An Inside Look at the Mental Health Playbook of Elite Athletes.”
I interviewed Julie about this book for Power Plays earlier this year, but to get to talk to them in person in my home state about such an important book??? A true dream!! It’s going to be a blast, so I hope you will come.
Okay, let’s do this.
The CBA that could change everything
So, today I was supposed to publish a check-in post about everything happening around the country in women’s sports right now, but news broke this morning that made me stop in my tracks, and the swiftly pivot: The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) has a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA).
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The NWSL launched in 2013, but did not sign its first CBA until 2022. That CBA didn’t expire until 2026, so it wasn’t necessarily on the top of anyone’s radar to expect a new one so soon. But during the Olympics, Eben Novy-Williams at Sportico reported that the NWSL and NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) had “quietly” agreed to a new deal. And on Thursday, the news became official.
Here’s what the NWSLPA said about the deal, which lasts until 2030:
The terms of the new CBA reflect the next phase of the rebirth of American women’s soccer. The first phase occurred with the simultaneous ratification of the first CBA in 2022, which secured Players’ rights and elevated professional standards, and the launch of an unprecedented joint investigation, which resulted in a safer and more professional work environment. This next phase empowers Players with freedom of choice over their career, elevates the professional standard of their work environment, and more closely aligns incentives so that Players participate in the NWSL’s economic growth.
It will come as a surprise to nobody that I am extremely pro-union and pro labor. But I still look at CBAs with a lot of skepticism. This one, though? So far, my friends, it doesn’t just look good, it looks potentially paradigm-shifting. It might be the most player-centric CBA in history? It’s at least in the conversation.
I’ll do a deep dive for all of the nerds once I have the entire document in my hands, but here are a few of the biggest wins, and some more information about the timing of this monumental deal.
First off, the NWSL draft has been abolished!!
The NWSL will no longer have a college draft. Or expansion drafts. All players are free agents unless they are under a contract. Every player now has, well, true agency over their careers.
This is huge. College drafts are a cornerstone of professional American sports leagues. As someone who grew up in the United States primarily following the NBA and NFL, drafts were a given. But they’re not consistent with the way sport, especially soccer, is run globally. The NWSL was starting to lose talent to European leagues because players didn’t want the fate of the first few years of their career — crucial years for any professional athlete — to be, essentially, up to the luck of the draw.
“The draft is an antiquated model that treats people as property to be bought and sold,” the NWSLPA said. “The new terms will empower Players to decide which team environment is the best fit for their needs and their development.”
Now, does this leave some question marks about how parity will be maintained? Of course! Big markets will have an advantage, but let’s face it, that’s already the case. And those teams do not have roster spots for everyone. It’s going to be up to each franchise to convince players why their city, facilities, playing style, roster, and training environment are the best fit for that person’s individual career and goals. It should encourage investment in things like new stadiums, such as the one we saw Kansas City debut this year.
This is bold. And it’s necessary. And I love it.
Also, contracts are now guaranteed.
Once a player signs a contract, said contract is now guaranteed, except in “limited circumstances,” which I am sure we will hear more about when the entire CBA is released.
Again, this is a very important thing for players, especially in a sport where injuries are so abundant. I am interested to hear more about this part, though, and to examine whether there are any loopholes.
And players must consent to trades!
Along with the end of the draft, this is the most paradigm-shifting part of the new deal, at least from my extremely American-sports-influenced POV. Players have to agree to a trade in order for it to be happen. No more waking up from a nap to find out your entire life has changed.
Will this make everything perfect? Of course not. Feelings will still be hurt. Players will still feel pressured to agree to trades they don’t really want, because not many people are going to want to stay with a team after finding out they are exploring options to get rid of them. However, this is much, much better than the status quo.
Crucially, salaries are higher.
So, let’s talk about money, shall we? The minimum salary will increase from $48,500 in 2025 to $82,500 in 2030. That is significant. (Though I would still like for it to be more!)
The base salary cap will be $3.3 million in 2025, and is expected to grow to $5.1 million by 2030. Revenue sharing provisions are in place, there is no max salary, and the NWSLPA secured audit rights, which is crucial to keeping things in check.
Let’s put things into perspective: When the NWSL launched in 2013, the salary cap was $200,000, the minimum salary was $6,000 and the maximum salary was $30,000. In 2021, the year before the current (well, now former) CBA went into place, the minimum salary was $22,000, the maximum salary was $52,000 and the salary cap was $682,000.
That, my friends, is what we call GROWTH.
Here are few other important things to note:
Teams are entitled to three round-trip charter flights per season.
Players are guaranteed a midseason break and a minimum of 28 days off in the offseason. (Which is not much, I must say.)
Bonuses for awards such as Rookie of the Year and MVP will double or quadruple.
Parental leave and childcare benefits are expanding.
Okay, this is awesome. But why did it happen now?
Like I mentioned above, the timing of this was slightly surprising. But apparently, it’s been in the works for about a year, and it was actually the NWSL who approached the PA about renegotiating the CBA.
That’s because at the World Cup last year, countries that were rife with NWSL talent did not perform well, and the league realized it was falling behind the rest of the world and needed to make some changes.
“I think, coming out of the World Cup, the league recognized, Hey, there’s something to this. The world is passing us by. The window of opportunity we have to maintain our competitive advantage is closing, and we need to move quickly,” NWSL Players Association executive director Meghann Burke told Vanity Fair. “We don’t have time to wait until the end of this current collective bargaining agreement to make a really substantial transformational change.”
Additionally, the league wanted to have labor stability heading into its next media rights deal — this year, the league entered into a four-year, $240 million domestic rights deal with Amazon, CBS, ESPN, and Scripps. It expires in 2027.
“As we begin to think about preparing for our next media deal, we now have a long horizon for owners, sponsors, and media partners to invest in women’s soccer without fear of disruption, knowing that the players are our product,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman told the Guardian.
The league’s desire to get to the bargaining table early certainly put the players in a position of power, and they used it to get some very labor-friendly wins that will help improve the quality of life of every player in the league.
“We saw this midterm, voluntary negotiation as an opportunity to expand on the rights and protections that we set the foundation for in our first CBA in 2022. This new deal achieves that. Players drew a clear, firm line that now is the time to accomplish what some have said could never be done,” Burke told ESPN.