NWSLPA demands CBA now with preseason boycott looming

The NWSL Players Association continues to push for the ratification of the league’s first CBA, threatening to boycott if it is not in place prior to the start of preseason next Tuesday.

“Since March 2021, we have negotiated in good faith with the NWSL to secure the first CBA in a US professional women’s soccer league,” the NWSLPA said in a statement Tuesday. “We are now seven days from the start of Season 10 with no contract in place.

“The NWSL and the Board of Governors have our final proposals and can vote to agree to a contract that values and protects us as players and moves the league in the direction that we all know it deserves to go.”

NWSL players are prepared not to report to preseason if a CBA is not in place by Feb. 1, The Athletic’s Meg Linehan originally reported last week.

Sources have told Just Women’s Sports that there are a few sticking points left on the table, including free agency and group licensing. Another major factor is that U.S. women’s national team stars are allowed to join the NWSLPA this year. Previously, players had a no-strike clause built into their CBA with U.S. Soccer. Now that USWNT players are contracted by their club teams rather than the USWNT, based on an agreement reached in December, NWSL players can take a unified stand.

That much was made clear on Tuesday when USWNT stars such as Alex Morgan expressed their support of the NWSLPA’s statement on Twitter.