The National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) recently agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) through 2030. The current, and first, CBA was signed in 2022 and was not set to expire until 2026.
Some said a CBA like this would never happen. #WeSaidNow. The Players just secured freedom over their careers and made history as the first American major pro sport to eliminate the draft.
Player freedom secured. Read more about our new CBA via link in bio. #wesaidnow pic.twitter.com/3gXeEcwxlD— NWSLPA (@nwsl_players) August 22, 2024See AlsoWomen's Soccer vs Drexel on 8/25/2024 - Box ScoreNo. 22 Badgers prepared for home UIC and Marquette matches | Wisconsin BadgersPenn women’s soccer loses second game of the season to DrexelMen's Soccer Kicks Off 2024 Season With Games Against Marquette, Indiana - Yale University
Full details are still emerging, but most agree this new CBA is very player-friendly – with an elimination of player draft, restrictions on free agency and base salary and bonus increases.
The new deal is unprecedented in its timing and how it compares to other American professional sports leagues. Joel Maxcy, PhD, a professor in Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and sports economist, explains how this new CBA compares to other American leagues and peer soccer leagues in Europe and how it will impact players, owners and fans.
The previous CBA was signed in 2022 and didn’t expire until 2026. Is it normal for leagues and player unions to agree to a new deal with so much time left on the original deal?
It is unusual to renegotiate two years prior to expiration, and I cannot think of an example of a renegotiation being this far ahead of a CBA expiration date. In this case I believe both parties, the player’s union and the owners, believed the current CBA put them at a disadvantage relative to their international peers. So, it made sense for both parties to redo the entire CBA now.
The major news to come out of about the new agreement is the elimination of the draft and restrictions on free agency. What does this mean for players? For the owners and teams? And fans?
Yes, those are the important changes. The standard U.S. sports league model includes an entry draft and significant restrictions on free agency. Most of these policies would or could violate antitrust laws if challenged in court. However, U.S. labor law which sets up the framework for collective bargaining trumps antitrust law so that agreements between the owners and the players union generally will withstand an antitrust challenge.
European and many international sports leagues do not have much of a union presence, nor collective bargaining agreements. Antitrust (competition) law is therefore in play and drafts and free agent restrictions are highly unlikely because they would be judged illegal.
The market for women soccer players is global, so a U.S. league without similar free labor market rules to European leagues, for example, would likely lose top players to those leagues. Owners want the best players to stay here, or come here, so a more open or free labor market helps them. Players will have less restrictions on their earning power, so it’s also very good for them. NWSL fans should be happy that the league is better able to maintain its best players and top-level competition.
Is this something we could see in other professional leagues?
It is unlikely. League ownership is very happy with the system that allows otherwise legally questionable practices to be permissible through labor law and collective bargaining. An exception may be Major League Soccer (MLS). At present the MLS has a U.S.-style CBA with a draft and restrictions on the players’ labor market. It works for them because at present they are not, unlike the NWSL, very competitive with the major European leagues and rarely compete head-to-head with them for star players.
However, if the MLS does desire to compete with the Premier League, La Liga, French League, Bundesliga, etc., they may become very interested in a more labor friendly CBA, which will be necessary to sign the best footballers.
There is some shock that this deal was agreed to quickly and quietly – when other professional leagues, like MLB and NHL, have faced strikes and lockouts. What makes this different than other professional leagues’ labor agreements?
Primarily the agreement happened because both sides wanted the change. In most other cases one side or the other is satisfied with the status quo. The discontented party typically motivates the strike (union) or lockout (owners).
Media interested in speaking with Maxcy should contact Annie Korp, assistant director, News & Media Relations, at 215-571-4244 oramk522@drexel.edu.
