The National Women's Soccer League has agreed to remove the eligibility restrictions on its High Impact Player rule, settling six grievances brought by the NWSL Players Association under an agreement announced on Friday.
The rule, widely known as the Rodman Rule after the Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman, allows clubs to pay certain players outside the ordinary constraints of the salary cap. Until now a player had to satisfy performance and marketing criteria set by the league in order to be designated.
From 2027 those criteria disappear. Players no longer need to meet performance and marketing tests to negotiate contracts funded under the rule.
One requirement remains, and has applied throughout the rule's history: "Only players who take up at least 12% of the base salary cap qualify for HIP status." The league retains the ability to lower that threshold.
In exchange, the league keeps the power to cap how many players per club may use HIP compensation. It must notify the players' association of any such limit before the relevant free agency window opens.
The league also retains the right to reject a contract it regards as salary cap circumvention, but must now notify the association and explain its decision within 72 hours. The union's grievance over the rejection of a contract between the Spirit and Rodman was among those settled.
Other terms run wider. Annual salary increases or decreases in post-CBA contract years beginning in 2031 are limited to 15 per cent of the previous year's salary; existing housing and automobile benefits are preserved; and new bonus categories may be written into standard player agreements, covering appearance and minute milestones, consecutive starts, goalkeeper goals-against average, individual honours, end-of-year awards, United States national team matches, and FIFA and Concacaf tournament matches.
The league's footwear policy survives, but pre-existing endorsement deals are honoured for most players and previously issued fines are rescinded.
The settlement also establishes regular financial disclosures so that the association can review the league's revenue-sharing figures, which feed into the annual salary cap under the collective bargaining agreement.
"Behind each of these grievances are rights that matter to Players' careers and livelihoods," said Tori Huster, the association's deputy executive director, who added that the union "is committed to ensuring that the lived experience of Players lives up to the terms we collectively bargained for". Bill Ordower, an executive vice-president at the league, said: "Throughout this process, we were focused on finding solutions that work for the league and our players."
It is worth setting out what remains of the test. The performance criteria are gone. The marketing criteria are gone. What qualifies a player as a High Impact Player is a salary of at least 12 per cent of the base salary cap.
The designation therefore now describes its own cause. A club wishing to sign a high impact player does not need to find one. It needs to pay one.
This newspaper regards the simplification as overdue. The old criteria, built from honours, rankings and minutes played, were attempts to establish in advance that a player was worth paying a great deal. The new criterion establishes it by paying her a great deal, which is quicker and far harder to dispute.
The league has also kept the right to limit how many such players a club may carry. Impact is accordingly available in quantities the league will specify before each free agency window.
The Department of Unnecessary Research has one query outstanding, and it concerns the reserved power to lower the 12 per cent threshold. Lowering it would admit more high impact players, each of them slightly less high.