The NWSL’s Board of Governors, which consists of team owners and commissioner Jessica Berman, is in advanced discussions about implementing a new roster mechanism that would allow each team to pay star players significant salaries beyond the current salary cap, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.
If passed, the change would mark a significant shift in the NWSL’s long-term strategy with the short-term goal of keeping Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman in the league.
The basic framework of the new mechanism is that each team would have a set amount of money beyond the current salary cap to spend on star players who meet certain criteria, and that those funds could be used on multiple players. A version of the proposal is currently out for a vote with the league’s board and could be approved ahead of next week’s scheduled board meeting.
Sources said this mechanism and other proposals have been debated by the board nearly daily in recent weeks, and the concept had been discussed in some capacity — with less urgency — earlier in the year. Part of the debate in recent weeks has included which types of players should qualify for the proposed new funds. It is not immediately clear how that will be defined.
The NWSL board hopes the rule would solve the saga around Rodman’s free agency — her contract expires at the end of December — and keep her with the Spirit at a salary — almost certainly above $1 million — that can compete with other offers she has from abroad. The rule is also meant to allow NWSL teams to compete financially in similar situations in the future.
The NWSL’s proposed concept is that teams would not be able to offer unlimited funds to any player because of a limit on the amount of new funds that would be available.
Sources said the potential solution could also allow teams to spread new funds beyond just one player as long as the salary is over a certain amount. That threshold is not immediately clear. The expectation is that the rule will allow teams to sign the world’s best players at salaries that are now approaching and exceeding $1 million annually.
In the past, the NWSL used mechanisms like allocation money — which is being phased out — to help teams pay additional funds to players.
The NWSL salary cap in 2025 was $3.5 million after adjustment for revenue sharing. That is next year’s base salary cap before revenue sharing and the number will likely rise.
In MLS, teams can sign Designated Players whose total compensation and transfer fee surpass the maximum budget charge. The club is then responsible for financing the amount of compensation above the maximum budget charge, which for 2025 was $743,750.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, new Washington Spirit president of soccer operations Haley Carter said that creative solutions were being discussed daily at a league level, and that there was “immediate and urgent attention” on the matter from the league’s board. Carter said she was “hopeful” a solution would be found.
“Trinity is sort of the impetus for this, but this isn’t just about one player,” Carter said about the conversations around solutions. “We’ve already lost multiple players this year in two transfer windows overseas for massive transfer fees. So, it’s really about retaining those athletes, building a roster that can compete sustainably, keeping our best players, attracting even more elite talent, and also creating an environment where world-class athletes want to be. And that’s going to require some innovation from a strategic roster construction standpoint with mechanisms that we might not have explored yet.”
Rodman’s future hung in the balance for months as her end-of-year contract expiration approached. Berman said before the league’s November championship that they would “fight” for Rodman to stay in the league, but Berman also stood by the necessity of the salary cap, saying the NWSL is “not a charity.”
The situation hit an impasse last week, when the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association filed a grievance against the NWSL arguing that the league violated terms of the collective bargaining agreement when it vetoed the Washington Spirit’s record-setting contract offer to Rodman.
The NWSLPA filed the grievance on behalf of Rodman on Dec. 3, arguing that the league’s rejection of the agreed-upon terms between Rodman and the Spirit was a “flagrant violation” of her free agency rights and at least five sections of the CBA.
Rodman and the Washington Spirit recently had agreed to the multiyear contract that would backload compensation in the final seasons, according to the grievance.
Sources familiar with the agreement said it was slated to be a four-year deal with escalators that would bring the average compensation to over $1 million annually, which would make it the largest contract in NWSL history.
The league had 14 days to sustain or deny the grievance in writing.
If it is not resolved within 14 days, a grievance committee consisting of one representative appointed by the league and one by the players’ association will review the matter.
If that committee cannot resolve the issue, the dispute will go to arbitration (which both parties could jointly agree to proceed to directly).
A league spokesperson told ESPN in a statement last week: “Our goal is to ensure that the very best players in the world, including Trinity, continue to call this league home. We will do everything we can, utilizing every lever available within our rules to keep Trinity Rodman here.”
Rodman has played for Washington since being selected by the Spirit with the No. 2 pick in 2021 in the now-defunct draft.
As a rookie, she helped guide Washington to its first NWSL Championship. The Spirit lost in the final in 2024 and 2025. Following that rookie year, she signed a new four-year deal worth $1.1 million total.
She told ESPN’s Futbol W earlier this year that she “always thought about playing overseas at some point in my career,” and “it’s just a matter of when.”
ESPN previously reported that Rodman has received multiple offers from European clubs that exceeded what NWSL teams could pay her because of the league’s salary cap.
The CBA, which was ratified in summer 2024, calls for the NWSL’s team salary cap to rise each year through 2030. In 2029 — which would be the last year of the previously proposed four-year deal for Rodman — the base cap is set to be $4.9 million.
There is no maximum salary defined by the CBA. The league’s intervention with Rodman could effectively create one, the NWLSPA argued in the grievance.
In ESPN’s recent anonymous survey of general managers, there was an overwhelming worry that the NWSL will not be able to compete for top players under the current salary cap projections.
The potential loss of Rodman to a league abroad would be another blow after the abrupt departure of USWNT forward Alyssa Thompson from Angel City FC to Chelsea in September.
A new rule for world-class players could help retain top players and attract new ones from abroad who are currently untouchable due to their salaries.
“We were talking to a top, top player from Europe who was willing to take a pay cut in this last window, and the pay cut would have had to have been so significant that she couldn’t justify it,” one GM said in our recent survey. “Players are even willing to take a little less salary [to play here], but we’re talking about taking a third off their salary.”
