The USL Super League and the USL Players Association announced on Thursday a tentative agreement over key terms of its first collective bargaining agreement.
The agreement would give players of the first-division women‘s league standardized rights for the first time since launching in 2024, including minimum salaries starting at $37,200, housing benefits, and fully covered insurance premiums.
“I think it’s a defining moment in the history of the Gainbridge Super League,” league president Amanda Vandervort told ESPN.
“It’s a reflection of a shared commitment between the league and our players to build and stronger future together.”
Many of the key points in the USL labor deal mirror rights that have also been established for players in the National Women’s Soccer League’s most recent CBA, including consent to all transfers, which is not universally mandated in the USL’s men’s leagues, the Championship and League One.
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Freedom of player movement was the principle behind the USL Super League’s decision to forego player drafts when it launched.
That decision predated the NWSL’s abolition of drafts.
The term of the USL’s tentative agreement is 5.5 years, through the end of 2031, when the Women’s World Cup is expected to be primarily hosted in the United States.
The tentative agreement still needs to be ratified by players and the league.
“Five and a half years being the labor term gives us labor stability through the World Cup and gives us a strong foundation during one of the most important periods of growth for the women’s game in the United States,” Vandervort said.
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The USL Super League launched in 2024 as a fall-to-spring competition, but the league recently announced that it would transition to play from spring through fall, mirroring the NWSL, the longer standing first division in the United States.
Up until now, players had operated without a CBA, meaning that decisions and standards varied significantly by club.
The Super League has eight teams after Spokane Zephyr FC folded in May. Additional benefits of the Super League’s tentative labor agreement include a mandate of two athletic trainers per team, plus leave protocols standardizing an in-season break, parental leave, family emergency leave, and mental health leave.
There are also group licensing rights for name, image and likeness of players. Housing benefits include 50% of the fair market value of a two-bedroom apartment for players, plus 100% premiums coverage of health, vision and dental insurance — all of which improves upon the current conditions for the USL’s men’s leagues.
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By comparison, the USL’s proposed minimum salary is higher than the floor set by the NWSL in the first year of its original CBA, which was ratified in 2022 — the NWSL’s 10th year. That NWSL minimum salary was $35,000 (up to $50,500 in 2026; under a new CBA).
The USL’s minimum salary would increase throughout the agreement, although the parties did not yet share specifics.
A labor committee of United Soccer League and club representatives met with USLPA representatives, including a group of seven or eight players, in person and remotely over the past eight months to reach the tentative agreement.
The USL first voluntarily recognized the union in late 2024.
