NWSL commissioner rejects Spirit’s multimillion-dollar offer to keep Trinity Rodman in the league – The Athletic
The Washington Spirit proposed a multimillion-dollar offer to keep Trinity Rodman in the NWSL, which she was ready to accept. It was vetoed by NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman, according to sources who were briefed on the deal but not authorized to speak on the matter publicly.
Bloomberg first reported news of the failed attempt to re-sign Rodman, who is one of the primary stars not just of the Spirit, but of the NWSL as a whole.
“Our goal is to ensure that the very best players in the world, including Trinity, continue to call this league home. We will do everything we can, utilizing every lever available within our rules to keep Trinity Rodman here,” a league spokesperson said Wednesday night.
According to sources, the Spirit had proposed a four-year scaling contract that would see the 23-year-old free agent paid more in the final two years of the deal, with the hope of an increased media-rights deal for the NWSL helping with those costs. The current media-rights deal expires in 2027. Sources did not provide exact figures for Rodman’s proposed salary for each of the four years, though the annual average would be over $1 million, and felt it was competitive with inbound offers from top European clubs.
Rodman signed a four-year, $1.1 million contract extension in 2022 after her rookie season. That deal ended this year.
Berman and the league believe the structure of the proposed contract violates league rules, according to a source briefed on the league’s decision.
She’s worth watchin’! 😎
Congratulations to Trinity Rodman on being named to the 2026 @forbes 30 Under 30 list. 💅🏆https://t.co/TCJA3Z6ZqY pic.twitter.com/2MwIRZzEgb
— Washington Spirit (@WashSpirit) December 2, 2025
Based on the NWSL’s 2025 competition manual, the salary-cap regulations do not appear to directly forbid the increase of a salary from year to year, assuming the Washington Spirit met the league’s salary cap in any given year. For the 2026 season, the team salary cap is $3.5 million; by the end of the proposed offer, in 2029, the salary cap would be $4.9 million. There is no maximum for any individual player’s salary in the NWSL collective bargaining agreement.
The Spirit declined a request for comment Wednesday night.
Sources said that because the proposed contract structure did not violate any NWSL rules, the NWSL Players Association has filed a grievance with the league on Rodman’s behalf.
A request for comment was not immediately returned by a spokesperson for the NWSLPA.
According to the NWSL CBA, once a grievance is filed — in this case by the PA — the league has 14 days to reply via email to say if the grievance is sustained or denied. If that doesn’t happen, the grievance would then go to a committee with one representative appointed by the league and one by the PA. Arbitration is also on the table if either of those methods fail, or if both the league and the PA decide a grievance should simply go directly to an impartial arbitrator.
Rodman’s status as a free agent and her future within the NWSL have been one of the major storylines of the past month. Rodman has received interest from European clubs, made all the more concerning to the NWSL as a whole after a series of high-profile departures by other American talent this year, from Naomi Girma to Alyssa Thompson.
“All I can say is the club has been doing all it can — above and beyond — to make sure that there is a path for (Rodman) to stay,” Spirit owner Michele Kang told The Athletic on Tuesday. “We’ve done that in partnership with the league.”
Commissioner Berman has been directly involved in negotiations between the Spirit and Rodman’s representation. All standard player agreements are signed with the NWSL itself, rather than any individual teams.
Ahead of the championship, Berman said the league wants the top players of the world in the NWSL. “Particularly, we want Trinity in the NWSL,” she said, “and we will fight for her.”
It is unclear how Berman and the league vetoing the Spirit’s considerable offer leaves the state of negotiations moving forward.
