• Loading stock data...
Friday, July 4, 2025

The NWSL Is Picking Players Over Parity. How Will Fans Respond?

  • The fast-growing league aligns with global soccer norms and separates itself from other U.S. pro properties.
  • The NWSL’s on-field competitive balance could now stand at heightened risk.
Soccer balls
EM Dash-USA TODAY Sports

Player drafts in pro sports have been a particularly U.S.-based concept centered on promoting on-field competitive balance. The NWSL is abandoning that—in dramatic fashion—in service of much bigger aspirations.  

The league’s newly signed, four-year extension of its labor agreement with the NWSL Players Association eliminates both the draft and player trades without consent, and arrived two years before the expiration of the current term. In doing so, the NWSL became the largest U.S. pro sports league to eliminate its draft. But the decision to end the draft brings the league much closer with the rest of pro soccer around the world, and is aimed in part in better positioning the NWSL as the location of choice for the very best women’s player talent.

“Given our vision to be the best league in the world, we determined that this was the right time to align with global standards and achieve long-term labor peace,” said NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. “This CBA gives us agency over our business, and gives the players agency over their careers.”

The move also positions the NWSL in line with FIFA’s “Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players,” and is premised fundamentally on granting unrestricted free agency to all players. 

The NWSL even received plaudits from those outside the sports world, including the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the U.S. Players unions in several major U.S. pro sports, including the NWSLPA, are part of an AFL-CIO sports council.

“This game-changing collective bargaining agreement sets the gold standard for all professional sports and affirms what workers in unions can accomplish when we stand together,” said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler. 

Downside Risk?

As the NWSL more closely resembles other international pro soccer leagues, it also separates itself from most major U.S. properties, including Major League Soccer. The draft is seen as such an important tool to promote competitive balance that MLB in its most recent labor agreement joined the NBA and NHL in introducing a draft lottery to discourage tanking. It also prohibited teams receiving revenue-sharing funds from gaining a lottery pick in more than two straight years.

The NBA, meanwhile, continues to wrestle with its own long-standing issues around alleged tanking for better draft picks, even with a decades-old lottery.

The extensive focus on competitive balance, and draft rules within that, is directly tied to a belief and underlying business model that overall fan interest and revenue are greatly boosted when every team has a regular shot at winning a title. MLB, in particular, has aggressively marketed the fact it has not had a repeat World Series winner since 2000—a streak almost certain to continue this year.

Conversely, men’s soccer leagues in Europe have been rife with dominance by just a handful of economically powerful clubs. Manchester City has claimed the last four Premier League titles, as well as six of the last seven, and only six clubs overall have won that league in the last 30 years. In the same time frame, just five clubs have topped LaLiga, and only six have done so in Serie A. Paris Saint-Germain has won Ligue 1 in 10 of the last 12 seasons.

As the NWSLPA called the draft “an antiquated model that treats people as property,” the NWSL, amid its ongoing and meteoric growth, will need to guard against a similar rise of superteams.

Linkedin
Whatsapp
Copy Link
Link Copied
Link Copied

What to Read

opinion

Caitlin Clark’s Media Supporters Pushing Harder Against Slights

Dick Vitale, Colin Cowherd, and others are accusing other WNBA players of jealousy.
exclusive

WNBA Players Reject League’s First CBA Offer

Players felt the initial proposal wasn’t “entirely responsive” to their request.
Sophie Cunningham

WNBA Expansion Decisions Show League Prioritizes North, NBA Ties

One player ripped the league for its geographic choices.
exclusive

PGA Tour Slashes FedEx Cup Winner Pay From $25M to $10M

The FedExCup is reworking how it distributes its bonus money.

Featured Today

3,000 Hot Dogs, $20K in Prizes: Behind the Nathan’s Eating Contest

Nathan’s serves up thousands of hot dogs and $20,000 in prize money.
July 3, 2025

Geoffrey Esper Can’t Catch a Break at Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest

“Hot dogs is not one of my favorite competitions of the year.”
June 29, 2025

The Battle Over Wimbledon’s Ambitious Expansion Plan

A classic NIMBY standoff on one of the most hallowed grounds in sports.
Seattle Rough & Tumble
June 28, 2025

Women’s Sports Bars Are on the Rise. Survival Isn’t Guaranteed

Some women’s sports bars are cashing in. Others are clawing for funding.
Michael Johnson

Grand Slam Track Still Owes Athletes $13 Million: Source

The new track league hasn’t paid athletes in full yet.
Red Panda
July 2, 2025

Red Panda Hospitalized After WNBA Halftime Fall

The beloved performer was taken off the court in a wheelchair.
July 2, 2025

NHL to Rejoin Olympic Ice in Milan—and NBC Set to Cash In

NHL players last competed in the Olympics in 2014.
Sponsored

Hottest Matchups Following NFL Schedule Release

The NFL released the 2025 regular-season schedule, and anticipation is already building in the ticket marketplace with four months to go.
July 1, 2025

WNBA Roster Limits Under Fire After Vanloo’s Valkyries Release

Kaitlyn Chen remains on the Valkyries roster.
July 1, 2025

LIV Golf CEO Pushes Back On PGA Tour Merger

Scott O’Neil said there could be new opportunities for the Tour’s players.
July 1, 2025

New Philadelphia Arena Was Key to City’s Successful WNBA Bid

The forthcoming team will play in a new arena in South Philadelphia.
July 1, 2025

NBA Salary Cap Up 7% in 2026–27, but Teams Expected More

The 2026–27 salary cap is projected at $165 million.