The NWSL has implemented the ‘Rodman Rule.’
That’s not the official name for the new fund that will allow the league to pay certain players outside of the salary cap—it’s called the High Impact Player rule. But the fund was created in direct response to the league’s threat of losing Rodman due to salary-cap restrictions.
Rodman and the Washington Spirit had previously agreed to a backloaded four-year, multimillion dollar contract, but the league vetoed the deal because it went against the “spirit” of the league’s collective bargaining agreement. In the weeks since, the NWSL has worked to come up with an answer to keep Rodman and other superstar players from fleeing to Europe for more lucrative contracts.
The league determined the fund to be the best option despite the NWSLPA’s disapproval and counterproposal asking the NWSL to instead raise the salary cap by $1 million. In a statement issued by the NWSLPA on Tuesday, the union said the NWSL’s decision to establish the new rule has left them with “no choice but to take action to enforce the rights of the Players we represent.” The union did not specify what steps they will take in response to the league’s implementation of the new rule without their approval.
So, where does that leave Rodman?
The star forward currently has multiple options on the table—one of them being a return to the NWSL.
Rodman’s contract expires at the end of December, but the NWSL said teams can sign high-impact players immediately despite the rule not going into effect until July. If a team does sign a high-impact player now, it is under the condition that the contract terms do not require the team to use the allotted funds until July 1, 2026. Considering Rodman had previously agreed to a deal with the Spirit, signs point to her returning to the NWSL.
However, in the weeks since the league-vetoed contract, her agent Mike Senkowski has done the media rounds discussing her future. “With no certain way to get [Rodman] her fair market value within the NWSL, naturally that forces you and encourages you to look elsewhere,” he told CBS earlier this month. “I can tell you she has greater value than the deal she signed with the Spirit that was rejected in Europe. She even has a greater deal within the U.S. in another league.”
The NWSL has seen an exodus of star players in recent years for European clubs, including Rodman’s USWNT teammates Naomi Girma and Alyssa Thompson, who both left the NWSL for Chelsea in 2025.
Earlier this month, the Spirit’s new president of soccer operations, Haley Carter, said there was no real deadline they were working within to re-sign Rodman. At the time, she characterized negotiations as being constructive, saying all parties were working to come up with a solution to keep Rodman in the NWSL.
The question now with the HIP fund on the table is whether Rodman still has a desire to return to the NWSL, or if a more lucrative contract abroad has stunted that inclination.
