Brown wants his story to help create ‘safety, comfort, and space’ for players in the league
Latest editorial
Challenging the status quo in US sport
JAMES NALTON explains why a collective bargaining deal between NWSL and their union is so groundbreaking
Seattle Reign forward Emeri Adames celebrates with teammates after scoring against North Carolina Courage, August 2024
LAST week, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) announced a landmark collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that made professional leagues and player unions across US sports sit up and take note.
It will see the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) become the first major US professional sports league to get rid of the entry draft, in which a league’s teams line up to choose amateur players, mostly emerging from the college system, to sign for them.
Among numerous improvements on the previous deal, the new CBA also introduced free agency for all players when their contracts expire, rather than players needing to play a certain number of NWSL seasons before being granted full free agency, and abolished the practice of players having no say in which team they are traded to and when.
More from this author
As the concept of league games being played overseas has come about once again, JAMES NALTON writes how a club is not a club without its links to location, community and fans
Vermont Green FC’s viral Bernie Sanders tifo was more than a joke. It was a sharp critique of US soccer’s top-heavy capitalism and a celebration of grassroots power, writes JAMES NALTON
Palestinian football has been decimated, its players killed, its stadiums reduced to rubble. Yet the global game has looked away silent in the face of genocide, and will remain a stain on the sport, writes JAMES NALTON
