USA’s National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) last month agreed to a historic collective deal with their league: the women's players managed to achieve full free agency and eliminate the draft. In doing so, they are the first union to arrange free agency for all players in US sports
Meghann Burke, the Executive Director of the NWSLPA and a former professional goalkeeper, writes about the background of the new collective bargaining agreement.
By Meghann Burke
We are the first sport in the United States to eliminate the draft and to adopt full free agency. It’s a transformative shift in American sports. England, France, Germany, Spain, and Mexico had free agency for almost 30 years. We are bringing American sports to the global standard.
Our position has always been that our players should have the same rights that others around the world have. They should have autonomy over their careers and the ability to choose the work environments that support their needs and development, which is a right every worker should have.
The draft and the lack of free agency have been holding us in our ability to compete at the global level. We raised that point during negotiations for the CBA we signed in 2022. After last year’s World Cup, where the US, Brazil and Canada – the countries with the largest number of internationals in our league – were eliminated before the quarter-final, the owners and the clubs had to accept the idea that the world was passing us by.
During the opening session of the negotiation, I raised the concern to team owners that we were playing by one set of rules while our competitors were playing by another that was giving them a big advantage. The NWSL was losing talent due to an antiquated set of rules. For example, Catarina Macario left because she didn't want to go through the draft.
There are people who think the NWSL is going to decline once the draft is eliminated. They are afraid that the richest teams will become more dominant, the weaker teams will be unable to attract players, and the league will become less competitive and less interesting. I strongly disagree with that.
The draft is an antiquated model that treats people as property to be bought and sold. We shouldn't have a problem with eliminating that. The draft is also anti-competitive by nature. There is an incentive to tank in order to get the top pick in the draft, rather than level up and be competitive to attract some of the world's best talent.
Additionally, we still have roster limits and a salary cap. Every team can spend the same amount of money, but by eliminating the draft, teams have an incentive to offer a competitive training environment, invest in a coaching staff, scouts and technical directors to make informed decisions about how to construct their roster and team environment. They are going to have to create an identity and club culture that players want to be a part of.
We worked with a bargaining committee of 49 players. Our philosophy is that every player representative has a duty to be involved in collective bargaining. If other players are willing to put in the work, then we add them. Why would you say no to members who are willing to engage in this process? It is an enormous benefit because no one person is going to think of every vantage point or every issue. We had players involved from all backgrounds – from veterans to players in their second professional year. We had a broad range of perspectives, which is very important. The players in our union are brilliant, and as a leader, I see that as an enormous asset.
Another important topic was workload management, which is one of the most difficult components to execute. For instance, most clubs are not the primary tenants or owners of their stadium, so they cannot control their venue. Travel is also a critical factor of workload management. Our players travel anywhere from 55,000 to 75,000 miles and across four time zones over the course of the season. In the negotiations, we focused on game frequency and tried to reduce the number of games that are played within a period of time. We also protected the in-season break and secured a 28-day off-season and defined when charter flights were required to manage the players’ travel conditions.
We produced shirts with a slogan to create a cultural moment. The slogan Some Said Never, We Said Now is a nod to the 55-year plus of organizing in this country to achieve free agency.
The path was paved by icons like Curt Flood who fought for free agency all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Though he lost his case, he sparked the possibility of a future in which free agency could be possible.
Some Said Never acknowledges the doubt of those who could not see the future Curt Flood imagined, a future in which players have the right to decide which team is the best fit for their needs and development.
We Said Now speaks to this being a moment created by the players. The players made it clear to the league what their terms were for the new CBA and did not back down. The players sought transformational change and won it.
I can certainly acknowledge the pace of change has been rapid; we only signed our first CBA in 2022, but for decades there wasn't enough change, right? This change we're seeing is the backlog of what should have been happening years ago.
It took many generations of players, many years of hard work and organizing and advocacy for us to see what's changed in the last three years. This didn't just suddenly happen.
This contract brings us to the global standard around players rights while also embracing uniquely American concepts in the commercial context.
