Early on Thursday, the National Women’s Soccer League announced a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with its players’ association. Ratified almost two years ahead of schedule, it’s a landmark deal underscoring the league’s commitment to innovation and player empowerment. Key elements of the agreement include increased salary minimums and a growing salary cap, expanded healthcare options and a groundbreaking shift to a fully free agency model, making the NWSL the first US professional league to abolish the draft.

The timing of this agreement is strategic. With the CBA now extending to 2030 (the former CBA was set to expire in 2026), NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said that the goal of this preemptive return to the negotiating table was to lay a solid foundation for long term labor stability. While only in the second year of their immediate media rights deal – already historic for its 40-fold increase – she said sights are already set on the next set of contracts due in 2027.

“As we begin to think about preparing for our next media deal, we now have a long horizon for owners, sponsors, and media partners to invest in women’s soccer without fear of disruption, knowing that the players are our product,” Berman told the Guardian.

Far from dehumanizing the players, the logic is simple: by investing in your product, you tacitly invest in the business.

It’s a smart move. According to Deloitte, in 2024, global revenues for elite women’s sport will surpass $1bn for the first time, reaching as high as $1.28bn – at least 300% higher than just three years earlier.

The new CBA will roll out gradually, with all restriction on player agency notably being lifted immediately.

While drafts have historically been a cornerstone of the American sporting landscape, European leagues have long embraced a system in which players have significant control over their careers, marked by free agency models and robust transfer regulations. This framework allows players to negotiate contracts, choose their teams based on preference of location and salary, and move between clubs with relative freedom, provided they adhere to established contractual requirements.

“It was really clear that there is a global labor market for talent, and it was also clear that we weren’t operating in ways consistent with global standards around player movement in particular, and player agency,” Berman said.

By embracing a free agency model, the NWSL positions itself as the first established professional league in the US to adopt this global standard. The free agency system will build on the more limited framework introduced in the 2022 contract, which allowed players to become free agents only after a set period with the league.

Next month, the NWSL will eliminate the draft entirely. Berman described the shift as “monumental,” highlighting that players will now have the freedom to choose their entry into the league based on their preferences rather than their years of service. Not only will this foster a competitive environment among clubs hoping to attract the best talent – crucial for a sport once plagued with sexual harassment and abuse claims – but it reduces any confusion or red tape for overseas players looking to join the NWSL.

“It’s critically important, in order for us to be the best league in the world, that we are attracting the best players. And some of the best players are here in the US, and some of the best players are international, and we want to be a league that is a destination for those best players, regardless of where they come from,” Berman said. In adopting a model that aligns with the rest of the world, she said they have now “removed those self imposed obstacles to create a clear runway for the best players in the world to be able to come into the league”.

The agreement also features a substantial increase in minimum salary, which will rise from $48,500 in 2025 to $82,500 by 2030, while establishing a salary cap that will increase incrementally from $3.3m to $5.1m by the end of the contract. This salary cap is made up of a base amount and a supplementary increase based on revenue sharing, ensuring that the league’s financial growth benefits the players directly.

“It’s our hope – and this was important to us – that this [revenue sharing] creates economic incentive with our players to want to build this business, and make sure that we’re doing all the things that drive growth,” Berman said. “We’re participating in the same ecosystem. When we win, they win, and there is correlation between their compensation and our revenues.”

In addition, the CBA significantly improves upon current support for NWSL players by expanding parental leave, fertility and childcare benefits. Mental health services have been broadened, and each club will now be required to employ ten health professionals, up from six, including physicians, athletic trainers, a physical therapist, a sports scientist, a licensed mental health provider, and massage therapists, ensuring more comprehensive care and support for players.

A mother of two herself, Berman said the management team really took time to consider what kinds of safety nets and support systems being a parent and an athlete required. “We don’t want our players to have to make a choice between being a mom and being a professional athlete. We feel like there’s incredible role models in our league who have pioneered and shown all of us that it is possible, and if someone wants to do that, we want to make sure that we have the systems in place to support them.”

According to Berman, negotiations for the new agreement began almost a year ago, with players eager to participate in a contract that would once again be barrier-shattering. Despite the intense requirements on and off the field, many of the athletes made attending meetings a priority, with a clear sense of the importance of having a role in shaping a league that is built for the future.

Dozens of players from across the league took part in virtual and in-person sessions, with negotiations finalized in Philadelphia in July.

Berman is excited that this new CBA positions the league as a leader in women’s sport, noting it’s the manifestation of a good negotiation when everyone leaves the table feeling like a winner.

“We really want to be a positive disruptor and the tip of the spear to really help the industry think differently about women and women in sports,” Berman said. “We’re going to pave our own way. We want to be that innovator. We want to be that business that embraces growth and opportunity and is more risk tolerant in how we think about building our business for the future.”

• This article was amended on 26 August 2024 to describe the NWSL as the first established professional league in the US to adopt a free agency model.