The National Women’s Soccer League Players Association rejected a proposal from the league's board that would have allowed teams to circumvent salary cap restrictions, it said Thursday.
It would have been a seismic policy shift aimed at keeping national icon Trinity Rodman from possibly moving abroad for more money.
The board voted to approve a "high-impact player" loophole last week in capitulation over a backloaded contract for Rodman. It does not eliminate the salary cap, but it creates a roster mechanism that would allow teams to put $1 million toward specific players.
But the proposal had to be sent to the player's association for approval, which it denied, NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told ESPN on Thursday. The change would require collective bargaining, she said.
"The league is trying to control and interfere by trying to dictate which players get paid what with this pot of funds," Burke said. "Our position is that teams — GMs, soccer ops, business folks at the team level — are uniquely positioned to make judgment calls about how to structure their rosters, how to negotiate deals."
Burke suggested instead that the league increase the 2026 salary cap by $1 million, which would make it $4.5 million.
A representative for the union confirmed ESPN's reporting.
A league spokesman for the NWSL told NBC News in a statement that the league has "created a plan that gives our teams the financial ability to compete for the top players in the world."
" The rule is specifically crafted to attract and retain these elite athletes while increasing compensation to players across the roster." the statement continued. "We are actively reviewing feedback from the NWSLPA as part of the consultation process outlined in the CBA. The league remains committed to being the home of the world’s best talent, and this path gives our clubs the opportunity to pursue that goal while raising overall player investment.”
The proposal came after three U.S. women's national soccer team players left the NWSL for opportunities in Europe this year — and panic that Rodman, an Olympic gold medalist, would be the fourth was growing.
Rodman's contract with the Washington Spirit lapsed after the team's loss in the NWSL championship last month, allowing her to field offers from around the world in free agency. She had agreed to a four-year, multimillion-dollar deal with the Spirit that was rejected by the league, according to Rodman's agent, Mike Senkowski.
Senkowski told CBS News on Dec. 5 that the initial deal complied with the NWSL collective bargaining agreement but that the league felt it violated "the spirit of the rules." He said Rodman would have greater value with clubs in other leagues, which do not maintain salary caps.
"With no certain way to get her fair market value within the NWSL, naturally that forces and encourages you to look elsewhere," Senkowski said. "I can tell you she has greater value than the deal she signed with the Spirit that was rejected in Europe."
Rodman has been with the Spirit since her rookie year in 2021, when she was named the NWSL Rookie of the Year and helped lead the team to its first league championship. Since then, she has appeared in more than 40 U.S. women's national team games, she was among the top scorers at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and she appeared in two more NWSL finals.
Burke described Rodman as one of the most marketable players in the world in an interview with The Women’s Game podcast this month.
"We're talking about a global labor market; this isn't like Major League Baseball or NFL, where there's really only one game in town," Burke said. "Players in this league have options all around the league, and teams aren't just competing with each other for top talent ... they're competing with Europe and other countries around the world."
The union filed an appeal after the NWSL rejected Rodman’s deal, Burke said.
NWSL struggles to retain talent and its identity
As women's soccer grows around the world, the NWSL is struggling to maintain its talent as U.S. players are offered more lucrative opportunities while maintaining the competitiveness that has been part of its identity.
The new rule would have essentially equated to a “designated player” rule, which Major League Soccer uses, allowing clubs to sign up to three players whose total compensation exceeds the salary budget. People sometimes refer to it as the "Beckham Rule," because it was created in 2007 to bring international megastars — specifically David Beckham — to the league.
For the NWSL, the "high-impact player" clause is really an attempt to keep its homegrown icons.
Defender Naomi Girma was the subject of a record-breaking transfer deal in January when San Diego Wave FC accepted $1.1 million for her to move to Chelsea in the Women's Super League in the United Kingdom. Nicknamed the "Secretary of Defense" by fans, Girma is one of the biggest names on the U.S. women's national team.
She was followed days later by fellow USWNT defender Jenna Nighswonger, who left Gotham FC for Arsenal in the Women's Super League.
Alyssa Thompson, a young rising star forward who had just begun to break through on the national team, joined Girma at Chelsea in September. It was a particularly surprising move for Thompson, since she had just resigned her contract at Angel City FC alongside her younger sister.
But despite the growing concern about hemorrhaging some of its most popular talent, the NWSL has resisted calls to raise its salary cap. Commissioner Jessica Berman told The Athletic ahead of the NWSL championship last month that the cap has already quadrupled in just four years.
“As the business grows, we will analyze that each and every season," Berman said. "We also know that compensation is not the only thing that players consider when deciding where to play.”
Parity within the NWSL among different clubs is one of the main arguments to keep a salary cap, with many criticizing European leagues for having the same teams at the top year after year because they can buy stacked rosters. Berman referred to the NWSL's highly competitive environment as a "very compelling" proposition to keep talent.
In an anonymous survey this year, ESPN found that 10 out of 15 NWSL general managers named the salary cap as a rule they would change. Abolishing the cap entirely drew concern that the cost would become unbalanced or that the gap between the “haves and the have-nots” would widen.
Tobin Heath, a two-time World Cup and NWSL champion, argued heavily against the loophole in an episode of the podcast she shares with her wife, Christen Press, after Thompson's transfer. Adopting a designated player rule would "signal the end of our league," Heath said.
"If you create a system where one player or two players is deserving of some ridiculous amount of money and the rest of the team is basically paid what the NWSL is currently paying players, this creates a massive chasm between the worth of players," Heath said. "And I don't believe that belongs in team sports."
Heath suggested making the current salary cap of $3.3 million a minimum to spend on rosters and raising the salary cap to a more ambitious maximum.
Players' having larger market value off the field than in their contracts can be disorienting for players, former national team icon Megan Rapinoe said on her podcast, "A Touch More." Rapinoe described Rodman's contract struggle as part of the growing pains women's sports are experiencing as they gain more attention.
"I do still think it is a responsibility that does have to be embraced and shouldered by the players to continue to reinvest themselves into growing the league and playing in these leagues ... and yes, get paid as much as possible," Rapinoe said.
