In the midst of a league-wide reckoning over allegations of sexual coercion and emotional abuse against former North Carolina coach Paul Riley, new details have emerged about the current bargaining process for the league’s first CBA.
The Executive Director of the NWSL Players Association, Meghann Burke, was recently featured on the “Burn It All Down” podcast, where she discussed the ins and outs of bargaining the NWSL’s first CBA and the #NoMoreSideHustles campaign.
In the podcast, Burke revealed that while bargaining for the CBA has been ongoing all summer, none of the league’s 12 team owners have attended the sessions.
“The owners have not attended a single bargaining session,” Burke said at roughly 35 minutes in. When asked if that was normal, Burke said that under her understanding, it’s not.
“Certainly in a lot of non-sports contracts the owners of a company might not be involved in day-to-day bargaining negotiations. But it’s my understanding that owners have come to the table in the NFL, in the USL, the MLS. You know, whose money is being spent. That would be something that has been of a concern.”
She added that they have players at every bargaining session, even having more than 25% of their bargaining unit at a single session once.
“That’s how fired up and engaged our players are,” Burke said.