The National Women's Soccer League

In November 2019, the league announced new compensation rules to help attract and keep domestic and foreign talent in the league. (See Exhibit 6 for NWSLPA response). In addition to higher minimum and maximum salaries ($20,000, up 21%, and $50,000, up 8% over 2019) teams could utilize up to $300,000 in allocation money from the league. The allocation money could be used to pay players whose contracts exceeded the league maximum. Additionally, those players had to meet criteria that took into consideration success in the NWSL and years spent in the league, as well as international game experience for foreign players. As part of the new rules, the maximum contract length went from one year with a one year option to a maximum of three years with a one year option providing players with longer-term stability. Finally, the new compensation rules allowed for housing not just during the season, as it had been, but year round.  For many in the NWSL, the compensation rules didn't go far enough. As Orlando Pride's Sydney Leroux put it, "If you're not on the national team, you're sitting in the back seat..... What we're doing is only affecting certain people and I think that that's not good enough because we're losing out on really good athletes because you can't survive on an NWSL salary. People have different jobs, people's parents are helping them and that's not okay. This isn't a hobby, this is our livelihood".

Exhibit 6 NWSLPA Response to New Compensation Rules

Two weeks after the NWSL announced the new compensation rules, the league lost its MVP Sam Kerr. Kerr, who stars for the Australian national team, signed a two-and-a-half year contract reportedly worth $600,000 a season with Chelsea in the English FA Women's Super League.