Why Come Back? 

Welcome to ASC: A Soccer Column (or, by its full name, Alexander Scott Campbell: A Soccer Column), a weekly column on an issue of the day in the world of soccer. In lieu of reporting on the Chicago Fire for MLSsoccer.com during this era of COVID, this blog will be my way of writing and choosing topics of interest to me and I hope you as well.

Despite the lack of a true 2020 season and the postponement of the Olympics, it’s been quite a busy summer for women’s soccer. The NWSL did manage to host a bubble tournament in Utah, the first American professional sports league to restart after everything was halted back in March due to COVID-19. It wasn’t long after the Houston Dash lifted the trophy that attention quickly turned to the inevitable question: now what?

While it is common for NWSL players to go elsewhere in the offseason (the United States is one of the few countries where professional soccer runs spring to fall rather than vice versa), the usual destination is Australia’s W-League, while some may try their luck in Germany or Scandinavia, and a lucky USWNT start might even get the chance to play for Olympique Lyonnais, the powerhouse of European women’s football.

But this year, America’s top players have a new destination of choice: England’s FA Women’s SuperLeague. Sam Mewis and Rose Lavelle signed for Manchester City, while across town Tobin Heath and Christen Press joined Manchester United and down south Alex Morgan arrived at Tottenham Hotspur.

The initial catalyst for these moves stems from the mentioned uncertainty with the NWSL. The league is currently in the midst of its Fall Series, a schedule of glorified friendlies, but beyond that it is unknown how the league will approach 2021 with little improvement to the United States’ COVID circumstances. 

The usual offseason moves are, for lack of a more accurate term, loan moves. For those uninitiated with the wild world of soccer transfers, a loan is where a player’s club allows a different team to borrow them for a period of time (usually a season). In the men’s game this is typically to allow young players not yet good enough to play for their team a chance to get meaningful game time, while in the women’s game it is most often as a way to supplement income in the offseason. The deals that have brought these USWNT stars to England seem different.

The Manchester City press releases announcing the signings of Mewis and Lavelle did not say how long a contract each had signed, but their personal statements appeared to indicate they might not be returning stateside for a while. This notion was further strengthened by the Washington Spirit’s decision to trade Rose Lavelle’s NWSL rights (if and when she comes back, the team that basically has dibs on her) to OL Reign.

Press, Heath and Morgan have all signed one-year contracts, and it’s hard to know what happens after those expire next June.

These transactions are all complicated by the fact that the NWSL clubs for which they most recently played don’t really ‘own’ them in the typical soccer sense (at least outside of the US).

As UWSNT players, their contracts are with the federation rather than the NWSL or their clubs. Technically, US Soccer allocates these players to their respective teams (single entity leagues are very complicated and I am not the best person to explain, but if you’re confused I’d recommend Googling “single entity MLS” and you’ll find things that might help or might only confuse you more).

There has been no shortage of discussion over the way these players are payed. The basics: $100,000 in base salary for being a member of the national team, plus an NWSL ‘salary’ (reportedly between $65,000 and $72,000 depending on the player). By moving to Europe, they forfeit the NWSL portion of their wages. However, while we don’t know the details of their new contracts in England, it is more than safe to assume that in addition to providing an opportunity to player more games, these moves will provide an opportunity to make more money.

If reports are to be believed (which is always dubious when it comes to English newspapers and soccer), Australian international and former Chicago Red Star Sam Kerr now makes somewhere in the region of $500,000 - $600,000 to play for Chelsea.

Now, every women’s team does not have that kind of money to throw around and Kerr is arguably more valuable as a soccer player right now than any of the UWSNT players mentioned. That said, I would be willing to bet each of them are making six figures this season in England.

The bigger point from all of this is that playing in the FA Women’s SuperLeague (and potentially elsewhere in Europe) offers potential freedom from the imposed structure of US Soccer. If all the players could be making six figure salaries just from their club teams, they don’t really need those USWNT contracts anymore as a safety net. I have previously thought that the fastest way to pay equity for the USWNT players with their male counterparts was for the NWSL to become stronger and pay its star players what they are worth. But up against teams with the financial resources of Manchester United, Manchester City or Tottenham, or other strong European women’s teams like Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Barcelona, PSG or Olympique Lyonnais, the NWSL just can’t compete right now.

Making significantly more from club soccer would put the USWNT players in a position to be comfortable negotiating the type of deal the men of the USMNT have: no salary, but a per-game/accomplishment bonus system (the women currently have such a structure but get payed much less than the men for equivalent actions). Now, I’m obviously not talking about the kinds of multi-million dollar contracts some of the men make at their clubs (Christian Pulisic makes somewhere between $4 million and $10 million depending on who you believe), but with how successful the USWNT are, the men’s-sized bonuses plus a larger club salary would net them a potentially significant increase.

It’s important to remember there are no salary caps over in Europe, which exponentially increases the earning potential at clubs willing to spend on their women’s teams. While Manchester City have been one of the top teams in the WSL for a while, Manchester United didn’t have a women’s team until 2016 and Tottenham are only one year removed from getting promoted. Morgan, Press and Heath will immediately become far and away their teams’ best/most high-profile players, while Mewis and Lavelle are joining a squad that already boasts England internationals Steph Houghton, Jill Scott, Ellen White, Alex Greenwood and Lucy Bronze. Many big-name men’s clubs have only recently started to invest in women’s football, but if they choose to they have the financial resources to become very good very fast.

So where does this leave the NWSL? First, anyone thinking this spells doom for the league is overreacting. The Challenge Cup had great viewership numbers (including 650,000 for the final on CBS) and those who watch the NWSL are not just there for the USWNT stars. However, I think those pretending this couldn’t have any negative effects at all are kidding themselves. Perhaps these players come back in a year or two, but USWNT players are the best tool for selling the league to new fans, particularly those familiar with the World Cup team but unfamiliar with the NWSL. This power was obvious last season with a significant boost in attendance following the World Cup.

The good news is this is an opportunity to increase the marketing of the next generation of stars. Morgan, Press and Heath are all in their 30s now. So are Alyssa Naeher, Ashlyn Harris, Becky Sauerbrunn, Kelley O’Hara, Ali Krieger, Casey Short, Carli Lloyd, Jessica McDonald and Allie Long. That’s 13 of the 23 players who won the World Cup last year. Even if Europe becomes the norm for the USWNT’s top players, they all have to start somewhere. There is no shortage of American star power still in the NWSL with players like Margaret “Midge” Purce, Tierna Davidson, Lindsey Horan and Mallory Pugh who could be the faces of both the league and national team for the next decade-plus.

But Europe presents an opportunity for more soccer, for more competitive environments (such as the Champions League), for more money and, eventually, for a route to finally achieving equality in the eyes of US Soccer by proving that the players can make a living and be payed what they’re worth without the federation’s help. Add in the situation with COVID-19 in the US and my question at this point is a simple one: why come back?