Your entire girls’s soccer viewers is keeping track of the free company race for Trinity Rodman. As 2025 involves a detailed, a brand new wrinkle within the negotiation combine comes into play — a historic vote.
The NWSL’s Board of Governors is in superior talks to approve a brand new monetary mechanism, per ESPN. In a dramatic coverage shift crafted to retain the Washington Spirit ahead, and different star gamers, from fleeing to profitable abroad presents, this could permit groups to pay larger salaries past the league’s strict wage cap.
The potential new mechanism would not be the primary of its variety in American professional soccer, however can be new to NWSL. Not like MLS’ designated participant rule, the proposed idea wouldn’t permit groups to supply limitless funds to any participant. Every membership would have a set sum of money past the present cap to spend on star gamers that meet particular standards, and funds may very well be used on a number of gamers. A vote on the brand new proposal additionally contains finalizing the parameters that outline a “star” participant.
Following a 2024 Olympic gold medal win, the U.S. girls’s nationwide workforce winger and Washington Spirit ahead had turn into essentially the most prolific face in American girls’s soccer for the time being, leaving a lot to observe her offseason journey as the largest free agent available on the market.
As the brand new 12 months approaches, the 23-year-old has been clear about her need to remain stateside and play within the NWSL, however with ongoing salary-cap discussions, back-and-forth discourse between the league and Rodman’s illustration, and a grievance filed by the NWSL Gamers Affiliation, the waters of negotiations have turn into a bit murky.
Whereas rumors of abroad presents are practically a month previous now, there’s nonetheless time for something to occur, together with a stateside supply from the USL Tremendous League. Because the contract saga continues, we’re right here that can assist you sustain with the largest offseason story of the 12 months, with a glance again at key factors of Rodman’s profession, with a useful timeline of occasions which have led as much as the ultimate month of 2025.
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Trinity Rodman contract saga timeline
To know simply how the contract negotiations arrived to the purpose of the gamers union submitting a grievance, let’s begin with Rodman’s rookie season and thru 2025:
October 2021: Rodman caps off historic rookie season
Rodman caps off a historic rookie season in NWSL by successful the 2021 NWSL Championship. After being drafted No. 2 general within the 2021 NWSL Draft, the next-gen participant earns beginning minutes for her membership facet, racking up assists (5) and objectives (six) within the common season, and wins Rookie of the 12 months honors.
She additionally gained U.S. Soccer’s Younger Feminine Participant of the 12 months and was voted on the 2021 NWSL Finest XI First Crew. Her historic season results in a brand new contract, a record-setting $1.1 million deal paid out over 4 years.
August 2024: New possession after new coaches
The membership pivots to new possession, with new government management, after a number of rotated head coaches between 2022 and 2023, and eventually appears to be like primed to clinch a postseason beginning. Rodman thrives underneath new administration throughout the board with the nationwide workforce and membership.
USWNT Head Coach Emma Hayes has solely 70 days to construct towards the Olympics and rapidly solidifies her prime attacking line for the match with Rodman, Sophia Wilson, and Mallory Swanson. They go on an attacking spree, scoring 10 of the USWNT’s objectives, and are dubbed “Triple Espresso.”
November 2024: Return to the title recreation
Rodman and the Washington Spirit lastly return to the NWSL Championship for the primary time since successful throughout her rookie season in 2021.
Although the post-Olympic grind catches as much as Rodman as she tries to handle the fatigue and again harm, her minutes are shortened forward of November, however she performs two 120-minute playoff matches earlier than going a full 90 minutes within the NWSL Championship, the place she continues to play by means of her harm. The Spirit fell to eventual champions Orlando Pleasure, 1-0, and Rodman prepares to enter the ultimate 12 months of her contract with the NWSL facet.
January 2025: Rodman’s contract virtually up
Rodman begins her contract 12 months, and golf equipment abroad are already “monitoring her scenario” forward of the NWSL season.
She additionally begins her lengthy absence from the U.S. girls’s nationwide workforce. Her 2025 begins with in depth day off to handle a again harm. The winger has had some again flare-ups since her rookie season with the Spirit, however a protracted 2024 postseason run to the NWSL Championship ultimate on the tail-end of the Summer time Olympics means a prolonged time away for some restoration.
February 2025: Slowly returning
NWSL groups meet the laborious deadline to begin preseason coaching camps by Feb. 5, as per collective bargaining settlement guidelines, golf equipment should permit for a 5 to eight-week preseason earlier than aggressive matches.
The Washington Spirit competitors calendar begins per week previous to the common season on account of their participation within the 2025 NWSL Problem Cup. Rodman was with the membership for preseason coaching, although the expectation was that she would regularly work her manner into type.
March 2025: Rodman begins her season
Rodman begins her NWSL marketing campaign after time away from U.S nationwide workforce camps. She missed out on January camps and the SheBelieves Cup however was with the Spirit throughout their preseason build-up towards the 2025 Problem Cup. She dressed for the cup match, which the Spirit gained on penalties, however didn’t play.
The winger slowly constructed up her minutes throughout the common season and performed 45 minutes to an hour previous to April. Rodman additionally mentions in an interview that she’s undecided her again “will ever be 100%,” and that it is a matter of “when she performs in Europe.” Her improve in minutes results in a call-up to the USWNT roster.
April 2025: A return to the USWNT
Rodman made the USWNT recreation day roster for April friendlies in opposition to Brazil after elevated minutes for the Washington Spirit. She scored a objective within the 2-0 win in opposition to the South Individuals, however following the worldwide window, she had an harm setback.
USA coach Hayes and the Washington Spirit employees verify that Rodman would go to Europe to work with workforce medical doctors on managing her again harm. There was no timetable for her return to ensure that the participant to concentrate on restoration.
August 2025: Monumental comeback objective
Rodman made a triumphant return to the pitch and scored in her first membership recreation since April. It is an emotional second, and the participant continued to construct up her momentum all through the month. She elevated her minutes load in NWSL regular-season matches towards the tip of August.
September 2025: Selecting up steam at simply the precise time
Rodman returned to taking part in full 90-minute video games and regained type. She scored three objectives and notched two assists, and her performances earned her a number of honors, together with spots on Attacking Third’s Crew of the Week and NWSL Participant of the Month for September.
Elsewhere, Chelsea FC signed U.S. girls’s nationwide workforce winger Alyssa Thompson on a switch from Angel Metropolis, and the transfer fueled extra of the “USWNT gamers leaving NWSL” discourse amongst girls’s soccer trustworthy. The WSL membership is not named in reviews as a membership concerned about Rodman’s companies presently.
October 2025: Harm bug strikes once more
Rodman’s second-half season surge continues and exhibits no indicators of slowing down. She performs extra totally match matches and continues her objective scoring because the season approaches the ultimate stretch. Her sturdy type earns her one other call-up again into U.S. nationwide workforce camps for friendlies in opposition to Portugal and New Zealand, her first roster since April.
The Washington Spirit employees and head coach Adrian Gonzalez, thus far, have completed a good job of rotating a closely injured Spirit roster, with a number of gamers managing respective accidents. The membership’s newer success positioned them in rivalry for the 2025 Concacaf W Champions Cup, a match that crowns a membership champion within the area, and the competitors serves as a qualifier for the long run FIFA Ladies’s Membership World Cup.
Rodman sustained a knee harm throughout the match in opposition to Monterrey on Oct. 15 and was later identified with a grade 1 MCL sprain and withdrew from the October worldwide window with the USWNT. She was positioned on the Washington Spirit harm report for the rest of the common season.
November 2025: Contact-and-go standing, however contract on the thoughts
The Spirit employees have been hopeful that the MCL sprain analysis may very well be reevaluated for the NWSL Playoffs. Rodman reported for coaching carrying a leg sleeve and no brace, and took part in mild, no-contact coaching, forward of the quarterfinal. She was out there and dressed for the primary playoff spherical however didn’t play any minutes within the Spirit’s quarterfinal win over Racing Louisville FC.
The Spirit made fast work of the Portland Thorns within the semifinal spherical, and Rodman marked her 2025 playoff debut on the finish of the sport. She performed just one minute, however in 4 touches, recorded a harmful shot on objective. The semifinal win propelled the Spirit again to the NWSL Championship after their runners-up look a 12 months in the past.
All through the NWSL playoffs, Rodman’s contract standing was a key storyline as every recreation that handed was seen with uncertainty on whether or not these have been her ultimate video games in an NWSL jersey. NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman was questioned concerning the league’s wage cap amid Rodman’s standing, in mild of a brand new deal being provided by a rival league in america, and Berman responded that the NWSL “will struggle to maintain” Rodman within the league.
The winger performed within the title recreation on Nov. 22 and subbed on within the fifty fifth minute of the match. It was her most elevated minutes load since Oct. 15. The Spirit settled for runners-up within the 2025 NWSL Championship, this time to Gotham FC, 1-0.
Per the CBA, the league’s base wage cap will regularly improve through the years. The bottom wage cap will go from $3.3 million in 2025 to $3.5 million in 2026, and broaden to $5.1 million in 2030, following notable broadcast negotiations after the present deal expires in 2027. The wage cap base quantity will increase by the workforce income share every year and accounts for 10 % of sponsorship and media income for the league.
The eye round Rodman’s contract standing stays at an all excessive, and regardless of a 12 months of accidents and setbacks, she is the high-profile participant on the free agent market. She was clear with the media all through NWSL Championship week about making no choices forward of the ultimate, and the way she tried to block out the contract “noise.”
December 2025: NWSLPA recordsdata grievance
The Washington Spirit named former Orlando Pleasure government Haley Carter as the brand new membership president of soccer operations, a transfer by the membership that was perceived by analysts and the general public as an effort to retain Rodman with the Spirit. Carter’s hiring announcement got here simply hours earlier than new reviews emerged that Rodman and the Washington Spirit had reached a deal, however it was vetoed by NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman.
Berman’s reasoning for turning down the contract was that “it went in opposition to the spirit of the league guidelines,” although no particular guidelines have been violated and never cited in additional reporting. The preliminary new deal was set to be a four-year contract, with payout passing the million-dollar threshold per 12 months, with a portion of the contract backloaded, and would have been the biggest contract in NWSL historical past.
The brand new deal reportedly contained new-to-the-league mechanisms in paying a participant, and a timeline that will crossover into future income progress choices associated to potential broadcast rights offers. League sources have indicated the backloaded supply accommodates unreasonable assumptions pertaining to the quantity of future progress.
In response, the NWSL Gamers Affiliation filed a grievance on behalf of Rodman, which was reviewed by CBS Sports activities, and states that the league penalized Rodman’s free company rights and accused the participant of “wage cap circumvention.” The grievance additionally factors out that the league violated a number of free company protections beforehand negotiated within the CBA, together with Part 13.6, which states a participant’s free company rights “supersede every other inconsistent NWSL guidelines, laws, handbooks, or competitors pointers.”
Part 8.1 highlights no threshold for optimum participant salaries, solely a minimal wage customary for gamers. It additionally notes the league is unable to cut back participant advantages: “Nothing on this Part shall be construed to offer the NWSL the precise to restrict or cut back advantages in every other a part of this Settlement or any Commonplace Participant Settlement.”
The grievance was filed on Dec. 3, and the league has 14 days from the date of the PA’s submitting to maintain or deny it in writing. If no response is given, a two-person committee with one league and one PA consultant would assessment the contract scenario. If no decision is met, the dispute heads to arbitration.
The grievance additionally impressed a letter addressed to Berman from Consultant Emily Randall, a member of the Democratic Ladies’s Caucus, who urged “the NWSL to work in good religion with the NWSLPA and Ms. Rodman to resolve this matter in a well timed and clear method according to federal labor legislation requiring that the phrases of collectively bargained agreements be honored.” Randall additionally famous that “Congress maintains an oversight duty to make sure compliance with federal labor legislation, together with the Nationwide Labor Relations Act.”
The league and its participant affiliation navigate unusual territory as Rodman’s contract scenario continues to unfold. The NWSL stays adamant that it needs to maintain Rodman within the league regardless of rejecting the preliminary supply and operating out of time to barter a deal.
“Our objective is to make sure that the perfect gamers on this planet, together with Trinity, proceed to name this league house,” the NWSL stated in an announcement to CBS Sports activities. “We’ll proceed to do all the pieces we will, using each lever out there inside our guidelines to maintain Trinity Rodman right here.”
The NWSLPA, although, claims the Spirit’s preliminary supply is one that truly complies with the CBA because it at the moment exists.
“Trinity Rodman agreed to a compensation construction in good religion that will permit her to stay loyal to her first skilled membership, according to each the CBA and NWSL Competitors Guidelines,” the NWSLPA stated in an announcement to CBS Sports activities. “The NWSLPA has challenged the League’s rejection of this settlement on the grounds that it violates her free company rights, however this is not about Trinity Rodman. If NWSL can deny her free company rights, they’ll deny anybody’s. The NWSLPA won’t permit it.”
As each side attempt to navigate at a fast tempo, Rodman’s illustration is again to work for the participant.
“We labored actually laborious to place collectively an settlement that we felt complied with the CBA (and) would hold Trinity within the league for the foreseeable future,” Rodman’s agent, Mike Senkowski, stated on “CBS Mornings.”
“The NWSL would not have a sure manner for the time being to pay her truthful market worth.”
No new golf equipment have been named as suitors within the Rodman free company market saga, although Senkowski did make it a degree to notice that he was doing his interview whereas in Madrid, Spain.
Rodman just lately uploaded a vacation video weblog that particulars her time in Spain. She recorded her flight and mentioned participation in a advertising and marketing shoot. She additionally features a clip of her agent off digital camera and jokingly says, “At the moment my agent is raging about, ya know. You already know.”
Newest replace
December 11, 2025: The NWSL’s Board of Governors is in superior talks to approve a brand new monetary mechanism. The proposal framework would permit every workforce to have a set sum of money past the present wage cap to spend on star gamers who meet sure standards, and people funds may very well be used on a number of gamers. The proposal nonetheless must move with a vote.
What’s subsequent?
Whereas no present European golf equipment have reportedly thrown out their bids, Rodman’s agent additionally reminded “CBS Mornings” that she has presents with more cash on the desk, and alluded to the supply that D.C. Energy made throughout the NWSL postseason.
Because the league takes its time to answer the filed grievance, it might reopen a window to renegotiations elsewhere. Switch home windows for a lot of European golf equipment open Jan. 1 and shut on the finish of the month.
