The NWSL Board of Governors has approved a new roster mechanism that allows select star players to be paid above the current salary cap, multiple sources confirmed to ESPN.
However, the proposed mechanism still requires consultation with the NWSLPA due to its impact on the salary cap and the terms of the league's collective bargaining agreement.
ESPN first reported Wednesday that the NWSL board is nearing such a decision on the salary cap issue, which has recently been exacerbated by uncertainty over Washington Spirit forward to Trinity Rodman's future.
The new mechanism, which multiple sources said was dubbed “Power Player” behind the scenes to describe who would be eligible for the new funds, would allow teams to spend up to $1 million above the salary cap on top players while only incurring a portion of those salaries toward the cap.
In the short term, the new rule may allow NVSL and Spirit to keep Rodman from leaving as a free agent. Creating a rule, however, would not decide Rodman's future without the Spirit and the USWNT star also making a deal that has yet to happen.
But the NWSL board's adoption of this rule also has long-term implications based on who will claim what will be the highest salary in the league.
Sources told ESPN that the exact requirements for players eligible for the new funds were clarified and updated in recent days ahead of the NWSL board vote, which ended Thursday.
However, the gist of the rule is that there will be guidelines set for teams as to who qualifies as a “high-performing player” and that funds must be spent on retaining and attracting the world's best talent. These rules will differ from the league's previous form of money distribution, which was freely used by teams in all types of transactions.
A high performance player (HIP) must meet certain requirements from a list of both sporting and commercial performance indicators to be eligible to receive the funds, sources said.
Athletic metrics discussed at board meetings included placements on lists such as the Ballon d'Or, appearances in the NWSL Best XI or USWNT minutes earned, all in recent years.
The board also discussed the commercial profiles of players, sources confirmed, further highlighting the profile of players targeted by these new funds.
Qualifications discussed included rankings of the world's top players and third-party media's most sought-after athletes, sources said, although it is unclear whether those qualifications made it into the final criteria.
The maximum fee for each influencer was still being determined ahead of a board vote this week. One source told ESPN that a player's salary cap must be 12% of a team's total salary cap before HIP funds can be used.
At least 11 of the board's 16 votes were required to approve the new arrangement, one source confirmed to ESPN.
Rodman, as the most prominent and current example, is expected to meet several of the proposed requirements for a high-performing player.
If a player meets the salary cap and some combination of athletic or business requirements, the team could distribute additional funds to more than one player, the sources said.
Board approval is not necessarily the final hurdle for this rule. Section 8.16 of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the NWSL Players Association states: “The NWSL may, in its sole discretion, after consultation with the NWSLPA, reduce or eliminate the salary cap accrual from the team salary cap for certain roster classifications.”
According to sources who outline the concept of a high-performing player, the league is setting a reduced salary cap for a certain roster category.
The NWSL board will meet next week for its year-end meeting, which was scheduled months ago.
The proposed High Impact Player concept is intended to allow NWSL teams to compete financially for the world's best players, despite maintaining a salary cap. USWNT Stars Departure Alyssa Thompson And Naomi Girma from the NWSL earlier this year renewed concerns about the NWSL's ability to compete in the rapidly evolving global player market.
Both players left over $1 million in transfers to join. Chelseawhich is one of the few teams in Europe willing to pay players salaries approaching or exceeding seven figures.
Under the current NWSL salary cap, a team cannot pay seven figures to one player without sacrificing the rest of its roster. The adjusted 2025 salary cap after revenue sharing was $3.5 million for a roster with a minimum of 22 players.
The new NWSL concept is a crossover or perhaps an evolution of several MLS roster concepts and the old NWSL arrangement.
An “impact player” is very similar to a designated player in MLS nomenclature, and the concept of attracting the world's best talent is a fair one. However, MLS teams can pay designated players whatever they want, up to the salary cap; The proposed NWSL rule would continue to limit the spending of these new funds.
This makes the new NWSL concept more like a distribution of money. There are several forms of this in MLS, including the Whole Money Allocation, which was created to increase entry-level player salaries and expand rosters. TAM also has a limitation, but the new NWSL rule clearly targets the world's elite players in a more specific way than TAM.
Ironically, the NWSL has nearly completed phasing out its form of cash distribution, which it first introduced in 2019 to boost the salaries of top players above the salary cap. In January 2024, the NWSL announced that the allocation would be phased out entirely by the end of 2026, a move hailed by several sources at the time as a way to simplify the team's finances.
But expansion teams have since received special money in place of the draft picks that were eliminated in the new CBA, and the introduction of a high-impact player brings back a similar mechanism that would exist outside of the hard salary cap.
Regarding Rodman in particular, the NWSLPA, on Rodman's behalf, also filed an active grievance against the NWSL for what the players association called a “flagrant violation” of its free agent rights and at least five parts of the CBA. It was filed on December 3, days after the deal between Rodman and the Spirit was vetoed by NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman. The league has 14 days to uphold or deny the complaint in writing.
If the problem is not resolved within 14 days, the matter will be reviewed by a grievance committee consisting of one league-appointed representative and one player association representative.
If this committee is unable to resolve the issue, the dispute will be referred to arbitration (in which both parties can jointly agree to proceed directly).
In related news on Thursday, 39 members of the Democratic Women's Caucus and the House Democratic Caucus wrote a letter to Berman to “urge the NWSL to work in good faith with the NWSLPA and Ms. Rodman to resolve this matter in a timely and transparent manner consistent with federal labor laws requiring compliance with collective bargaining agreements.”
