What to know about the NWSL’s historic new CBA — and Ashley Hatch’s role in the negotiations

The National Women’s Soccer League and its players association have agreed on a historic player-friendly collective bargaining agreement, the two parties announced Thursday.
The new CBA gives players more autonomy over their careers, in part by eliminating the NWSL’s expansion and entry drafts — making it the first major professional sports league to terminate its draft, per the NWSLPA.
This step will allow players to choose where they play and spend their careers.
“Given our vision to be the best league in the world, we determined that this was the right time to align with global standards and achieve long term labor peace. This CBA gives us agency over our business and gives the players agency over their careers,” NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement.
The specifics of the new NWSL CBA has not yet been released on the NWSLPA’s website.
But the league did announce that part of the changes includes expanding parental and mental health leaves and mental health services.
Here’s what you need to know about the historic new NWSL CBA.
The new CBA became effective on July 11 and will last through 2030.
The two parties began confidential negotiations in September 2023. Negotiations lasted through last month and concluded with a final in-person negotiation.
Former BYU Cougar and current Washington Spirit forward Ashley Hatch was one of seven players in attendance at the final negotiation as a bargaining committee member and player representative.
Hatch’s former BYU teammate Michele Vasconcelos attended negotiations remotely alongside her Utah Royals teammates Addisyn Merrick and Imani Dorsey as members of the bargaining committee. National team players Alex Morgan and Alyssa Naeher also attended remotely.
The new CBA comes just two years after the league’s last CBA was ratified.
To celebrate and announce the new CBA, NWSL players shared a video featuring several players addressing the new agreement and those who doubted the players could have their groundbreaking demands met.
Hatch was one of those players. She joined other players in repeating the statement, “We said now.”
“Some said a CBA like this would never happen. #WeSaidNow. Draft eliminated. No trades without player consent. Guaranteed contracts. Revenue sharing. Workload management. Player freedom secured,” Hatch wrote in her caption of the video on Instagram.
NWSL players will no longer join teams through either the entry draft held every year or the expansion draft held when a new team joins the league.
Players will now enjoy free agency and be able to choose where they spend their careers. Players also can no longer be uprooted, since trades now require a player’s consent before being finalized.
All NWSL players will enter free agency at the conclusion of their current contracts.
“By establishing free agency for all players, the NWSL aligns itself with the rest of the world. Free agency results in fairness of contracts, with teams and players mutually agreeing to enter into a contractual relationship on even terms,” the players association said.
Every NWSL player will have a guaranteed contract through the new CBA. This will prevent the league or teams from terminating a player’s contract early.
“It also protects players in the event of circumstances beyond their control, such as a latent health condition,” the NWSLPA said.
The new CBA will impact players’ salaries.
Minimum player salaries will increase from $37,856 to $48,500 next year and to $82,500 in 2030, according to ESPN. There is no longer a maximum salary limit.
Teams will now be able to add shareable revenue made from the league’s prior year sponsorship and media rights deals, and they “will be held to a ‘minimum spend’ to ensure that shareable revenues are spent on player compensation,” per the NWSLPA.