We got the inside scoop from the NWSL commissioner herself.
The NWSL and the NWSL Players Association have inked a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that’s going to shake up the league — and the landscape of professional sports in the U.S.
“It’s a tectonic shift,” NWSLPA president Tori Huster tells us.
The new contract, which will be in place through 2030, includes some major changes that reflect both the league’s booming popularity and optimism that it can sustain its remarkable growth. Over the past two years, the NWSL has inked a $240 million broadcast deal — 40 times larger than its previous one — and sold the rights for a new expansion team for $53 million — more than 10 times its fee in 2021. And NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman tells us she thinks they’re just getting started.
“We’re really confident and bullish that we’re just at the beginning of our growth cycle,” she says. Berman believes this new CBA is essential to ensuring the stability and success of the NWSL. That’s why she decided to invite the players union to the bargaining table well ahead of 2026, when their current contract is set to expire.
“I wanted to reimagine the future of our partnership without any external pressure to cut a deal,” she tells us. “It really allowed for us to join together and talk about what’s possible and reset the framework of the league.”
Over 11 months of negotiations, they hammered out a contract that will radically reshape the NWSL. Under the new agreement, there will no longer be a draft and players will be granted unrestricted free agency. The base salary cap will nearly double to $5.1 million by the 2030 season, the minimum salary is getting bumped up, and a revenue-sharing model will be introduced along with expanded travel benefits.
“I think it’s going to elevate our league to be the place where the best players in the world want to play,” NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke tells us.
On eliminating the draft
Players will no longer be drafted into the league. This shift may feel like a colossal change to American sports fans, but it really brings the NWSL into alignment with the sport’s global standards. All players will also become free agents once their current contracts expire. All contracts will be guaranteed — meaning teams can’t terminate a player’s contract before it expires except in some limited cases — and players can’t be traded without their consent.
Huster, who played 11 seasons with the Washington Spirit, describes these changes as important for establishing a “baseline for players’ rights.” But she says it’s also needed to keep the NWSL competitive in a global talent market: “I can’t tell you the number of international players, top-tier talent, who wouldn’t sign a contract here, because they can be traded at any point.”
But a draft-free system is controversial, because of how it could impact smaller market teams without the capital to lure the sport’s stars. Burke isn’t too concerned about that: “The argument is that the draft creates parity. The first thing I’ll say is that parity is boring.”
She also hopes it’ll “force clubs to level up to create an environment where players want to be.”
On raising the salary cap and minimum salary
The base salary cap will jump to $3.3 million in 2025, increasing yearly through 2030, when it’ll hit $5.1 million. That cap, which limits a team’s spending, will rise each year based on the league’s earnings in media and sponsorship deals.
“The players are the stars, and they have the power to unlock incremental value and success for the league, so we think that incentive alignment is really important,” Berman says.
The minimum salary will increase to $48,500 in 2025 and rise to $82,500 in 2030. (These figures are still unfathomably low compared to what the lowest-paid players in the NBA and NFL are making, but it’s a start, especially when you consider that the floor used to be $16,538 just five years ago.)
On travel and childcare benefits
The NWSL will still be the only major U.S. professional league that flies commercial, but the league is requiring clubs to charter flights for certain midweek games.
It’s also expanding its childcare benefits. “I think there was a collective among all of us, including the league and the teams, to create a paradigm where a player wouldn’t have to choose between being a parent and a professional soccer player.”
Players with children under five now have the option of hiring a childcare provider to travel with the team. Each player is entitled to a $20,000 credit that can be used to freeze their eggs or undergo IVF or IUI.
“We’re super excited about all these things, which we think are really necessary for our players to be able to show up as their best self — on and off the pitch,” Berman says.
