NWSL revises Rodman rule after grievance; teams can now spend HIP funds on any player
The NWSL and the league’s Players Association announced on Friday that they had settled a grievance and revised the so-called Rodman rule, removing the initial High Impact Player (HIP) eligibility criteria across the league. The change arrives as Washington prepare to host Chicago this Sunday in D.C., a fixture expected to draw a large crowd at “Rowdy Audi”.
The HIP policy was introduced last winter to allocate money beyond the salary cap for players who met one of eight league-set categories tied to international recognition. Those categories included placement on lists such as SportsPro Media’s top 150 Most Marketable Athletes, ESPN’s Top 50, the Guardian’s top 100, top minutes on the US national team, the Ballon d’Or 30-player list, or NWSL awards like MVP and Best XI. SportsPro’s 2026 list featured only Alessia Russo and Aitana Bonmatí, while 16 female footballers appeared in 2025, including Trinity Rodman, Sophia Wilson and Marta.
The Players Association had argued the original criteria violated federal labour law, and the league moved to resolve that grievance on Friday. The rule’s inception was widely seen as a targeted attempt to discourage Trinity Rodman from joining Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses and to keep her with Kang’s Washington Spirit. At launch the policy allocated extra spending power to teams for players meeting those specified benchmarks.
Under the revised terms, teams that meet the 2027 salary cap of $4.4m (£3.3m) may spend an additional $1.257m on a player, as reported by ESPN, but clubs are no longer restricted to the eight eligibility categories when choosing who receives that money. Previously there was no cap on how many players could access the extra million if a team had already met the salary cap; the update introduces limits on numbers while removing the listed qualifying criteria. The change directly benefits elite players who previously fell short of the categories, with the article naming Ashley Sanchez and Catarina Macario as examples.
The revision arrives amid persistent financial and competitive contrasts between the NWSL’s single-club, parity-driven model and Europe’s high-spending super-teams. The piece cites clubs such as Chelsea, Lyon and Barcelona as spending “three times or more the amount that some NWSL teams do,” and warns those teams will continue to attract top talent such as Croix Bethune. Still, the league’s growth is noted through expansion, improved facilities and international players including Esme Morgan and Ann-Katrin Berger choosing to play in the United States.
One of the arguments in favour of the original HIP criteria was that awarding marquee names would help secure better media rights, market the league to broadcasters and raise the NWSL’s global profile ahead of major tournaments. The article references continental competition performance, noting Mexico’s Club América prevailed in the most recent Concacaf W Champions Cup final, and uses the Ballon d’Or as an example of how super-teams concentrate awards: Barcelona took all but one of the Ballon d’Or prizes and Alexia Putellas collected her third main prize before moving to London, while Ewa Pajor was described as having “fell just short, perhaps edged out by only having one super-team to play for.”
The piece notes Trinity Rodman did not make the Ballon d’Or shortlist and is not leading the Golden Boot race, but describes her and close national team peers, including “Triple Espresso” compadres Mallory Swanson and Wilson, as the presumed stars of the NWSL. It recalls Wilson’s Michael Jordan “shrug” celebration after scoring in the 2022 Championship final and argues the league has yet to replicate the attendance and commercial impact associated with Alex Morgan, an effect referenced in the original framing of the HIP rule as attempting to reward a player’s international fame or identifiable appeal.
Washington’s upcoming home game against Chicago at “Rowdy Audi” on Sunday is expected to draw a large crowd, and the Spirit could also see the stadium full at the start of the post-season if they secure a top-four finish with a positive result on Decision Day. This article is an extract from the Moving the Goalposts newsletter; for the full edition or to send questions, readers were directed to moving.goalposts@theguardian.com.