Trinity Rodman Grievance Filed After Historic NWSL Contract Offer Was Vetoed by League

The NWSL Players Association filed a grievance on behalf of Trinity Rodman as she and the Washington Spirit negotiate a new contract, according to ESPN's Jeff Kassouf.

Vanessa Perdomo of Bloomberg and Meg Linehan of The Athletic reported Wednesday that Rodman and the Spirit had agreed to a four-year contract that averaged more than $1 million annually. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman vetoed the deal, however.

Kassouf reported that the NWSLPA pushed back and said the contract terms don't violate the league's collective bargaining agreement.

Kassouf also shared a statement from the NWSL:

"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.

NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke spoke to Linehan and explained the union wants to help set a precedent with Rodman.

"It comes down to a very simple premise," Burke said. "If they can mess with Trinity Rodman's free agency rights, they can mess with anyone's. And we won't stand for that."

This all underscores the problem the NWSL is increasingly facing.

Salary caps are a regular feature of American sports leagues.

Men's leagues such as the NFL, NBA and NHL have a lot of leverage because they're the highest level of competition in their respective sports, and they offer by far the most money.

LeBron James has a maximum salary in the NBA, but he's not going to leave the United States to play in Europe.

It's much different for the NWSL when players have far more viable options abroad. Top clubs in England, France, Germany, Spain and across the continent don't have the same financial restrictions their American counterparts do, either.

This past January, Naomi Girma left the San Diego Wave for Chelsea in what was then a world-record transfer. Chelsea also poached Alyssa Thompson from Angel City FC in September.

Rodman is one of the NWSL's biggest stars. She helped the Spirit reach the NWSL Championship final and totaled five goals and two assists in 17 regular season appearances. The 23-year-old has also been capped 47 times for the United States and earned a gold medal in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Somebody is going to pay Rodman a substantial salary. It's effectively up to the NWSL whether that club is in the United States or Europe.

She won't be the last one in this situation, either.

While it's not quite this binary, the choice for the NWSL is almost whether it prefers to maintain competitive parity with a hard salary cap or have the best talent playing in the league.

"Right now, top talent is going only one way," one general manager told Kassouf. "We're not seeing that the other way around. We're not seeing players that are in top clubs in their prime coming this way. Yes, for now, it's only a handful of players that have left, but if that becomes a trend, then that will be an issue."

The outcome of Rodman's contractual battle will likely have major consequences.