As the NWSL keeps growing, its draft could become a barrier to progress

The rest of the world’s soccer players can choose where to start their pro careers, so why shouldn’t Americans? Top figures from across the league share their views on the issue.

This year's top women's soccer players were drafted by NWSL teams. That isn't always the case, however.Read moreSteve Madden

by Jonathan Tannenwald

Published Jan. 18, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

For the first time in three years, the NWSL draft felt like a big deal again.

Reduced to a virtual event because of the pandemic in 2021 and 2022, last Thursday it returned to being an in-person spectacle. And a spectacle it was, bringing players, fans, media, and every coach and GM in the league into the Pennsylvania Convention Center’s grand ballroom.

Beyond the bright lights and cameras, though, not all was well. In the two previous years, top young American prospects turned away from the NWSL to start their pro careers in other countries.

In 2021, Stanford’s Catarina Macario got a big offer from France’s Lyon, the women’s game’s biggest club team. Few people begrudged Macario for joining the eight-time women’s Champions League winners. But it still was a mark against the NWSL: a reminder that Lyon could offer not just more money, but better training facilities than most American teams.

Last year, it was worse. UCLA’s Mia Fishel was drafted by the Orlando Pride, whose manager at the time was her college coach, Amanda Cromwell. Fishel refused to sign there and instead went to Mexico’s Tigres, where she has scored 23 goals in 25 games. The Mexican league isn’t as good as the NWSL, but its teams have dramatically ramped up their spending recently.

This year could have brought a third miss. When Duke sophomore Michelle Cooper announced she was turning pro, many observers presumed the national player of the year was going to Europe.

Fortunately for the NWSL, she ended up staying home, and it worked out well. The Kansas City Current traded up to No. 2 to draft a player who had trained with them as an amateur.

But the potential for future prospects to spurn the NWSL still hangs overhead. It was a subject of conversation throughout the league’s visit to Philadelphia, behind the scenes and in the open.

For some players, it could be money. For others, facilities. And there are the ghosts of abuse scandals, though everyone hopes they will finally be chased away now.

For a lot of people, no matter their roles in the game, it comes down to a simple question. If the rest of the world’s players can choose where to start their pro careers, why shouldn’t Americans?

The Inquirer spoke with a range of people across the NWSL community to get their views.

The commissioner

Jessica Berman has led the NWSL only since March, but she has already been around the block.

“We know that relative to the global soccer ecosystem, the way that American soccer leagues operate as it relates to player agency is unique,” she said at a draft-day news conference. “It’s not unique relative to other sports in the U.S. So there always has been, I think, a very appropriate and thoughtful discussion and debate about where, as a league, we should strike the balance.”

The NWSL recently made a major hire of a new leaguewide sporting director, former FIFA and UEFA head of women’s soccer Tatjana Haenni. Berman said Haenni will play a big role in philosophical discussions about the draft’s future. But the commissioner naturally has her own views from a career that includes 13 years with the NHL.

“I don’t know that there’s a right and wrong answer, and I don’t know that there’s a better or worse model,” she said. “I think it requires some very thoughtful analysis, and I’ve really cautioned our ecosystem — despite all the investment and efforts overseas in women’s soccer — to be thoughtful about how we modify our rules.”

She continued: “It doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be open to change. But we should use data. We should understand what both the intended and unintended consequences might be and make sure that we’re making the best possible decision.”

The union chief

“We’re moving toward a world of free agency,” NWSL Players Association executive director Meghann Burke told The Inquirer at the draft. “We know that’s the global standard, and we need to compete as a global sport. We need to compete on the global stage. Under the rules on the status and transfer of players that FIFA writes, the rest of the world allows for full-on free agency.”

World soccer’s governing body usually leaves the NWSL and MLS college drafts alone, deferring to the strong collective bargaining agreements in both leagues.

“What we’re doing tonight is really unique in the world stage, which does have its benefits,” Burke said. “Tonight, you’re getting to see a lot of happy players celebrating with their families and storytelling being had. But there’s maybe another way to do it, and maybe the challenge of the future is figuring out how to do that.”

It would help the NWSL to have a homegrown player pipeline like MLS does, where prospects who grow up under pro teams’ umbrellas are exempt from the draft. But building that pipeline will require a lot of money. Burke knew she was a few miles from the Union’s academy, which has spent millions of dollars over many years to develop Brenden and Paxten Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, and others.

“It’s a huge investment,” Burke said. “When Portland brought Olivia Moultrie on [as a 15-year-old in 2019], I think a lot of clubs heard their experience and what it took to put her in an environment to be able to thrive and succeed.”

What it took included staffing by the Thorns, trust from the Moultrie family, and an antitrust lawsuit against a NWSL rule requiring players to be at least 18 years old. No one disputed that the league would grow out of that rule eventually, but it had to be forced at the time.

“Obviously, we’re thrilled to see Olivia in our league, and more players like her are going to come along,” Berman said soon after Angel City FC’s Alyssa Thompson became the league’s latest teenager. “[Teams] shouldn’t make the commitment unless they’re ready to make the financial commitment.”

The agent

Maggie Ntim has had clients across the NWSL, MLS, and beyond, including two draft picks this year in TCU’s Messiah Bright and Washington State’s Mykiaa Minniss. She’s also popular on Twitter, where she has plenty to say about the soccer business.

“With the draft, I’m not opposed to it,” Ntim told The Inquirer. “As someone that was born and raised here in America and has worked in other sports, the draft obviously is an American thing. Do I think [the] NWSL can do things differently with the draft? Absolutely.”

In the near term, she’d like to see the NWSL adopt a different strategy that MLS pioneered: the Generation Adidas program, which offers larger-than-usual salaries to elite college players to turn pro before graduating.

Adidas wouldn’t foot the bill in the NWSL, because Nike has the league’s apparel contract. But other sponsors might be interested.

In a way, the NWSL has already started down that path. Emily Madril, a highly touted centerback, left Florida State after her junior season last fall, signed a pre-contract to join the NWSL through this year’s draft, and spent the months in between on loan at a Swedish team. She ended up as the No. 3 pick by the Orlando Pride.

If the NWSL adopts such a program, players might not be able to fully pick their first pro clubs, but they’d get extra cash and know who’s atop the draft board. They’d also have some leverage against the league. If the NWSL wants a certain player, but she’s on the fence about signing, she can lobby for the special status. That has happened plenty of times over the years in MLS.

“I’ve had some [clients] that I said, ‘Look, leverage everything,’” Ntim said. “If it does mean for you to go to Europe, go. If it does mean for you to go to, maybe, Australia and get some experience, that’s a great league. … Whether you want to circumvent the draft or you just want that experience, absolutely, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Ntim also isn’t shy with clients who might think they’re good enough for special status, but the market says otherwise.

“I’ve spoken to a few players that are not even my girls, but I’m very honest and very direct,” she said.

This much is certain: Young players will get more power in the years to come, and the NWSL will get more questions about how to handle them.

“They are very smart. They know what they want within their career, and they pay attention — they’ve studied the ones before them,” Ntim said. “I’m not surprised at all with some of their decisions. But I also think, too, that’s where there are certain areas where the league has to do better.”