What Is Going on With Trinity Rodman’s Contract Dispute?

Everything you need to know about the standoff between the Washington Spirit and the NWSL surrounding the USWNT superstar.

Trinity Rodman helped lead the Washington Spirit to the 2025 NWSL Championship final. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

According to all the reports, Trinity Rodman wants to stay with the Washington Spirit in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

So, why hasn’t the U.S women’s national team superstar signed a new deal yet, and what is preventing her from staying in the NWSL? Let’s break it down.

What is Rodman’s current contract?

In 2022, fresh off winning the 2021 NWSL Championship in her rookie season, Rodman signed a four-year deal with the Spirit, reported to be the league’s most lucrative at around $275,000 a season.

That contract is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. Rodman is essentially already a free agent with the negotiating window with any prospective new team having begun on July 1, 2025.

In addition to winning the 2021 NWSL Championship with the Spirit, Rodman has been a key figure in the team reaching consecutive second-place finishes and Championship finals in ’24 and ’25. She is the youngest player in NWSL history to reach 40 combined goals and assists, having amassed 47 (29 goals, 18 assists) at 23 years old.

What teams are talking to Rodman?

There has been a lot of reporting on potential landing spots for Rodman. In March 2025, Rodman told ESPN that she had always wanted to play in foreign leagues. “I’ve always thought about playing overseas at some point in my career,” she said on ESPN’s Futbol W.

In 2025, USWNT superstars Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson both left the NWSL for Chelsea in the English Women’s Super League. That prompted many to predict Rodman would follow a similar path, especially given the NWSL’s $3.5 million salary cap for the 2026 season.

Then, in November, at a press conference ahead of the 2025 NWSL Championship, commissioner Jessica Berman said the NWSL would “fight” to keep Rodman in the league. These strong words from the commissioner came alongside a report from The Athletic’s Meg Linehan and Tom Bogert that the USL Super League team DC Power had offered Rodman a lucrative contract.

Not long after this, Rodman agreed to a new four-year contract with the Spirit. According to reports from ESPN, Bloomberg and The Athletic, this deal was believed to be over $1.1 million per season with the contract backloaded to increase by more during the 2028 and ’29 seasons.

Despite outside interest, for now it seems clear that Rodman wants to sign with the Spirit and the Spirit wants to sign Rodman.

How did the deal fall apart?

The NWSL rejected this proposed deal not because it violated the salary cap but because it wasn’t in the “spirit” of the league rules, as ESPN reported. The reporting says the dispute centers on the backloaded nature of the proposed contract and the Spirit’s willingness to bet on the future and to confirm a buyout clause in 2028.

While this was all going on, Rodman’s agent, Mike Senkowski, went on CBS Mornings to talk about how much Rodman wanted to stay with the Spirit. He emphasized that the NWSL needed to respect her “fair market value” and approved the offer on the table.

The implication here is that clubs in Europe, or in any other league without a salary cap, could sign Rodman to the same deal that the Spirit offered.

The NWSL doesn’t “have a certain way at the moment to pay [Trinity Rodman] her fair market value,” the global star’s agent, Mike Senkowski, exclusively told @nateburleson.

Rodman, who was offered a new four-year deal that her agent says complies with the league’s collective… pic.twitter.com/nAnkeQqEAG

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) December 5, 2025

How can the NWSL reject a deal?

U.S. sports leagues operate differently from many around the world because they are often touted as a single entity. Just like in the WNBA, NFL, MLB or any major league, the players sign with the league itself.

Yes, the teams agree on the terms of a deal and then pay the contracts, but the league is responsible for carrying out these basic player agreements. This gives the NWSL the rare ability to say that a contract is not suitable for signing.

Why did the NWSLPA appeal the rejected contract?

Following the NWSL’s rejection of the Spirit’s contract offer to Rodman, the NWSL Players Association jumped in to file a grievance on behalf of Rodman that stated the rejected contract violated her rights as a free agent.

The NWSL has two weeks to respond to the grievance filed by the NWSLPA, with a ruling expected this week. The NWSL will either approve the contract or battle with the NWSLPA in a court hearing over whether the league is overstepping and violating Rodman’s free agency rights.

How is the NWSL trying to change its rules for Rodman?

In the wake of the NWSLPA filing a grievance with the league, the NWSL league owners gathered for a board meeting to change the rules to give the Spirit more room to sign Rodman.

According to ESPN and The Athletic, the NWSL owners voted this week on a new mechanism that allows extra funds outside the salary cap to sign superstars. This new rule is expected to be known as the High Impact Player rule, which will enable off-cap salary each season to be paid to top players who meet specific criteria.

The full details are unknown at this time, and crucially, the NWSLPA must sign off on any changes, as they impact its collective bargaining agreement, which runs until 2028. Essentially, the new rule would allow players like Rodman to receive an increased salary without it pushing up against the existing salary cap so much that the league feels it is not in the “spirit” of the current cap rules.

On Wednesday, Sophia Wilson signed a one-year contract extension with the Portland Thorns, which Sportico reported to be $1 million. The NWSL already approved this deal because it was an option year agreed upon when she extended her stay with the Thorns in 2024.

When will Rodman sign a new deal?

Should the NWSLPA sign off on the new rule proposals from the NWSL board of governors, we could see Rodman officially sign a new record deal with the Spirit within a few days.

The international transfer window opens on Jan. 1 and closes on Jan. 30. Should the proposed deal for Rodman drag on or fall apart entirely, interest from clubs in Europe will undoubtedly increase.

If Rodman's contract saga this offseason has taught us anything, it is that the NWSL is not yet ready to stop suppressing contracts in the league against the global soccer market.

Simply put, salaries in women’s soccer are growing faster than the NWSL wishes the salary cap to increase. Rodman re-signing won’t change the league’s need for higher salaries to compete for players who want to play in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.