Trinity Rodman's Historic Contract: What it means for the NWSL and her new platform.

Trinity Rodman has had the lion's share of attention this offseason. 

One of the NWSL’s brightest, most marketable stars was left in limbo after the league vetoed an extension offer that would have kept the California native in DC through 2029. 

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman saw the deal as against the spirit of the cap rules, with an assumption around where the cap would rise in 2029 as the key issue. The NWSL responded with the High Impact Player roster mechanism (HIP) that would allow clubs to use an extra $1.27 million  – rising as the general cap increases – over the salary cap to sign players as long as they met the controversial HIP criteria. 

Thus, the NWSLPA’s second grievance of the offseason came into focus.

Rodman’s new deal, a $2 million dollar per year contract announced at a press conference at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, will keep her in DC through the 2028 season and will utilize the new HIP mechanism. It was a deal that had to cross the finish line, not just for Michele Kang’s Washington Spirit project, but for the league itself, locking down a top star through the 2027 World Cup. 

Rodman’s deal comes on the heels of Denver GM Curt Johnson mentioning the mechanism in acquiring Lyndsey Heaps earlier this month. GMs are starting to plan their roster under the assumption that the rule will hit the books this summer, but it isn’t that simple. 

While Berman told ESPN that securing Rodman was a proof of concept for the rule, saying;

“It was always our hope that Trinity would be able to take advantage of whatever rule we decided to implement, and we're glad that became to be."

Instituting the mechanism is a gamble. 

The PA’s grievance against its implementation is still pending, and while the league states that they’ve instituted this rule in good faith, the PA has taken issue with the general criteria involved in determining who is eligible for this separate pot of funds, and alleges that the mechanism is a way to circumvent returning to the negotiating table. 

The PA isn’t calling for a drastic change to the additional cap room. The players simply want to see that increase applied unilaterally, left in the hands of the league’s Sporting Directors instead a convoluted grouping of media rankings and USWNT minutes. A simple raise in the cap that would allow clubs spend across the roster to better keep pace with rising salaries across the top level of women’s soccer vs a forced pool of players.

Berman’s comments paint the picture of a league office that doesn’t trust its sporting minds to make the right decisions, centering the conversation around the league’s marketing efforts, again telling ESPN;

“It's our job at the league to make sure that capital and resources are being deployed strategically to grow the business for the long term."

There’s a fundamental disagreement between the two parties. 

The NWSLPA wants the league to stay competitive by cultivating an environment that hosts the best players in the world and offers a pay scale competitive with the top clubs in the world. While the NWSL wants the league to stay competitive as a top league, while mitigating risks that might overexpose the league’s less ambitious ownerships. 

One side wants the league to become the best place for soccer, and one side wants the league to be the most profitable, even if that comes at the expense of losing out to the more ambitious WSL clubs.

Crucially, if the HIP mechanism is found to be in violation of the CBA, the CBA allows for adjustments to the cap structure without negotiating a new CBA, allowing room for the Rodman contract to stay in compliance, which is why the Spirit and Rodman’s camp felt comfortable agreeing to the structure. 

“Trinity is a generational player,” Michele Kang said, “but more importantly, she represents the future of this club and the future of women’s soccer.”

The NWSL is, rightfully so, championing this extension as a win for the league, but it’s more of a celebration of Rodman’s relationship with the Spirit.

Players in other markets might have moved, taking the continuous roadblocks as a sign to move elsewhere.

Luckily, Rodman wanted to stay and win a title in DC. 

“I’ve made the DMV my home and the Spirit my family, and I knew this was where I wanted to enter the next chapter of my career,” Rodman said from the bowels of BMO. “Someone asked me if I felt like I’ve accomplished everything I could in DC, and I was like, ‘Hell no.’” 

The Spirit certainly seem like the favorites next to Gotham FC. Securing Rodman was a big part of that along with the continued development of Gift Monday and Croix Bethune. It's an exciting group that will be hungry after back to back Championship appearances derailed by crucial injuries.

In her speech following the official signing, Rodman mentioned the desire to give back to the DMV community with this new deal, entering a new stage of her career where her already elevated platform will be pushed to new heights.

It’s a big responsibility, bolstered after wearing the captain’s armband in the USWNT’s 6-0 win over Paraguay on Saturday.  

Captain Rodman performed to the standard on the pitch, but on a night where US Soccer honored Christen Press in the wake of the shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis, it was evident that this young version of the USWNT has yet to take up the mantle of past iterations. 

Fair or not, supporters who are used to the voices of Press, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Megan Rapinoe were disheartened by the lack of response following a hard morning across the country.

Emma Hayes addressed it in part on Monday, saying;

“It's upsetting on so many levels to see that happen, and I think they're in everybody's minds. But I haven't spoken about it with the squad, genuinely. I think the way we structure our camps, there's not a lot of sit-down time. [...] But we haven’t talked about it.”

A young group with an English-born manager might not feel as comfortable without veteran voices like Sam Coffey or Tierna Davidson (who posted in support on Instagram over the weekend), but that’s exactly when young stars have to find their voice. At a certain point, silence becomes complicity, and national team players become propaganda. 

Rodman has additional responsibilities now. 

She has shown through giving back to the youth of the DMV that she wants to be a role model to the next generation, but with that comes accountability in times like this. Current players stand on the shoulders of the previous generation that fought pushback at every level to build this platform, and built an expectation within the fanbase that players will fight, not only for their teammates, but for their right to speak up on issues of social justice.

The weight is officially on the shoulders of this next generation, and the expectations are higher than simply reinstating the USWNT at the top of the global game.