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Jeff Carlisle
SAN JOSE, Calif. — NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said Thursday that the NWSL is prepared to do what it takes to keep Washington Spirit and United States forward Trinity Rodman in the league.
«We want Trinity in our league and we will fight for her,» Berman said in her annual State of the League address.
ESPN reported last Saturday that Rodman has received multiple offers from England. A source with knowledge of the contract talks concerning Rodman confirmed to ESPN that the Spirit forward also has an offer on the table from a team in the USL Super League that is worth far more than what the NWSL can match.
The highest known annual salary in the NWSL is for Portland Thorns FC forward Sophia Wilson, which she signed in March of 2024.
The push to sign Rodman comes amid a broader discussion about increasing the NWSL salary cap. There is concern that the salary cap is resulting in some of the league’s top players leaving the NWSL for clubs abroad, especially in England and France.
The NWSL raised the cap earlier this year by $200,000 per team to a total of $3.5 million for each team. That follows increases to the cap in each of the past four seasons, with Berman noting that the cap has almost quadrupled in the past four years. But Berman, while expressing a desire to raise the salary cap, was noncommittal about whether that would happen for the 2026 season.
«We do not believe the NWSL is a charity,» she said. «We believe it is a business, and in order to treat it like a business, it means that the amount that our teams are investing has to have a rational relationship to revenue.
«And so when we go through that process of reviewing the overall ecosystem and the value proposition that we’re offering to top talent and to our players, and we’re looking at the amount being invested in training facilities, in stadiums, in compensation for players, we have to look at it in the context of where our business is at.»
Berman also stressed that compensation is only one factor in why players choose the NWSL. The level of competition, the quality of club infrastructure — including training facilities and stadiums — and the standard of coaching are all additional criteria players weigh alongside pay.
«When you look at those four Cs as we call them — competition, compensation, club [infrastructure] and coaching — we believe that we are putting forth a very compelling value proposition to be able to attract, retain and develop top talent.»
The Spirit play Gotham FC in the NWSL final here on Saturday. Rodman has only played a handful of minutes in the playoffs as she works her way back from a knee injury she suffered in a Concacaf W Champions Cup match in October.
ESPN writer Jeff Kassouf contributed to this report.
