Spirit Close Deal With Rodman As NWSL Labor Dispute Looms

After a weekslong saga between the NWSL and its players’ union, the Washington Spirit re-signed superstar forward Trinity Rodman.

Rodman signed a three-year deal to stay with the Spirit at a team press conference on Thursday in her native Southern California. Her pay can exceed $2 million including bonuses, according to ESPN, which will make her the world’s highest-paid women’s soccer player.

It’s a major development after many of Rodman’s fellow U.S. Women’s National Team stars left the NWSL to play in England and France, where uncapped leagues let teams offer players far more than they could earn in the NWSL.

Rodman said when she was considering other options this offseason, she didn’t feel that she was done with the Spirit.

“I don’t feel ready to make a different decision,” Rodman said. “I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

In response to the Rodman negotiations, the NWSL changed how the league works in order to help retain its domestic stars. But the league’s new policy didn’t go over well with the union.

The NWSLPA filed a grievance against the league last week for instituting its “High Impact Player” rule. The union said the league’s rule to allow teams to go $1 million over the salary cap for players who meet certain criteria violates its 2024 collective bargaining agreement. The rule was first proposed in mid-December and was swiftly protested by the union, which instead proposed raising the salary cap by $1 million for all teams. NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke told Front Office Sports at the time that she had “not heard from a single player who thinks this is a good idea.”

Despite the pushback, the league announced it would move forward with the “High Impact Player” rule toward the end of December. The league insisted that it had consulted with the NWSLPA, while the union called it an illegal and unilateral move.

While Rodman qualifies for the criteria of a “High Impact Player,” many notable players both in the NWSL and abroad do not make the cut. The list includes players like Sam Kerr, Racheal Kundananji, Rebeca Bernal, and Sarah Gorden. The list also requires players to meet the criteria in the past two seasons, significantly limiting qualification for players who have been injured or pregnant.

Spirit executives on Thursday confirmed Rodman’s contract benefits from the new “High Impact Player” rule and emphasized the need for the league to attract and retain top talent. Rodman said she was grateful for the opportunity but still thinks there is “room for growth to include more players.”

The grievance is one of two filed recently by the NWSLPA against the league. The other came in early December, before the “High Impact Player” discussions, when the union protested the NWSL blocking an earlier deal reached between Rodman and the Spirit. The multimillion dollar deal was back-loaded so as not to exceed the salary cap. But because the NWSL is a single-entity league that owns all its teams, it was able to block that deal.

A grievance is a process for formal complaints outlined in the CBA that will head to arbitration if the two sides cannot reach an agreement.

“We disagree with the NWSLPA’s assertions challenging the NWSL’s ability to implement the HIP Rule,” the league said in response to the second grievance. “The NWSL has fully complied with the CBA and federal law and we will defend those positions in our collectively-bargained grievance process.”

Rodman has been at the forefront of conversations about the NWSL’s salary model as much of its talent increasingly looks to Europe. Rodman’s agent said the forward has fielded lucrative offers from clubs abroad and from another team in the U.S. that Spirit owner Michele Kang described those as “very compelling alternatives” on Thursday.

Rodman became the highest-paid player in NWSL history when she signed a reported $1.1 million deal with the Spirit in 2022. The deal lasted through the 2024 season with an option for 2025.

Rodman is back with Emma Hayes’s USWNT squad for camp in Southern California after missing most of last year with a back injury. She has been listed as “unattached” on the U.S. Soccer website.

“Someone like Trinity Rodman, if she were to play outside of U.S. shores, would be one of the highest-paid players in the world,” Hayes said on a recent episode of the Unfiltered Soccer podcast. “And the realities are, I think, the generations before us have fought so hard for our ability to not just choose, but to earn fair market value. And I think Trin is in a great position to be remunerated for what she’s worth.”

Hayes also said she doesn’t think the details for bigger NWSL contracts have been finalized yet, but when it comes to the “High Impact Player” rule, she won’t let criteria for national team minutes dictate how she plays her squad. “It’s not the right position to put me or any coach in this position into and I will just make sure that I do what I always do and pick the very best available team,” she said.

Several of Rodman’s USWNT teammates, including Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson, have left the NWSL for teams in Europe, netting seven-figure transfer fees for their former clubs. As a free agent, Rodman would not have landed the Spirit a transfer fee.