Megan Rapinoe believes that the NWSL will soon be the favorite destination of youngsters and overseas players. Why? Because the NWSL, under its new Collective Bargaining Agreement has scrapped drafts and trades. Moreover, it has guaranteed improved pay and unrestricted free agency to all players. No wonder Rapinoe is so bullish on the American league’s future. However, the OL Reign legend sounded concerned about how successfully the NWSL could implement the new CBA in reality.

The NWSL’s new CBA and CBAs in soccer and basketball were two hot topics discussed by Megan Rapinoe and her partner Sue Bird in the latest episode of the A Touch More podcast. Rapinoe recalled the NWSL’s first CBA in 2022. As she puts it, “investigations into all the abuse(in the league),” were a part of the old CBA. Then she said she’s eager to see the new player-friendly CBA kick in. 

“This is just like so much about player empowerment and player choice and player movement. I’m really interested to see kind of how it all plays out and like how it act. Because there’s one thing to have CBA and then you gotta live into it and that’s the real well the dust has to settle,” said Rapinoe. 

Anyhow, it’s not a surprise that Megan Rapinoe sounded a bit concerned about the CBA’s prospects in reality. After all, it is a dream CBA any NWSL player could ask for. Rapinoe then detailed which parts of the new CBA will enhance the NWSL.

Megan Rapinoe hails the idea of player freedom envisioned in the new CBA

At first, the NWSL got rid of drafts in the league. For Megan Rapinoe, this means, more young players now have the opportunity to sign for different clubs. Clubs could either recruit players or the latter could knock on club’s doors. So players, in their teenage, can embark on an NWSL stint, without having to play college soccer. Besides, Rapinoe is also a fan of the NWSL’s move to scrap trades as well.

No more trades mean more international players, according to the USWNT legend. As she puts it, foreign stars will be extremely repulsive to the idea of having to move cities suddenly when get traded between teams. But as Rapinoe subtly reminded. All this is great on paper. It will truly prove successful when the new CBA enhances player welfare and the NWSL’s subsequent growth at the same time.