United States women‘s national team midfielder Rose Lavelle has re-signed with defending NWSL champions Gotham FC through the 2029 season, multiple sources told ESPN.
Gotham, which is operating at the maximum of the NWSL salary cap, is expected to use the NWSL’s new High Impact Player rule to fit Lavelle’s salary into the cap, a source told ESPN.
Lavelle was due to become free agent at the end of the year. She was one of the most high-profile players exploring free agency alongside USWNT teammate Sophia Wilson, whose contract with the Portland Thorns expires at the end of the year.
Several teams made aggressive offers to Lavelle, sources told ESPN, but the creative midfielder decided to stick with Gotham.
She has been at the center of the team’s recent success. Gotham currently leads the NWSL by five points heading into September and could win the club’s first NWSL Shield.
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Lavelle scored the game-winning goal in last year’s NWSL Championship to lift Gotham to a second league title in three years. She was also with Gotham for the team’s triumph in the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup in 2025.
Lavelle is a World Cup and Olympic champion who has 29 goals in 122 career games for the United States.
Lavelle has four goals in 19 appearances for Gotham FC this season.
Her sensational chip to help Gotham defeat the Washington Spirit on July 15 at Citi Field marked the start of Gotham’s current nine-game unbeaten streak that has taken the team from three points off Washington’s pace to league-leaders.
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Three days later, Lavelle scored a stoppage-time game-winner as Gotham defeated the Seattle Reign 3-2 to complete a late comeback from a two-goal deficit.
In June, Gotham announced the re-signing of veteran defender Emily Sonnett to a new contract through 2028.
Gotham also used the High Impact Player rule to retain Sonnett, ESPN confirmed. Gotham also signed forward Sam Kerr to a contract through 2030 earlier this summer.
Kerr is not eligible for the High Impact Player rule according to the current stipulations required of players.
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Forward Esther González and Gotham recently agreed to a mutual contract termination.
González’s abrupt departure was unplanned and unassociated with other roster moves, sources previously told ESPN.
The NWSL ratified the new High Impact Player rule last December as a mechanism to allow teams to attract and retain top global players like Trinity Rodman, whose contract saga with the league accelerated the implementation of the rule.
Rodman re-signed with the Spirit soon after for a contract that averages over $2 million per year, sources told ESPN at the time.
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The High Impact Player (HIP) rule allows teams to use up to $1 million in additional funds outside of the salary cap (set for $3.7 million in 2026) to pay top players.
Those players must meet certain criteria ranging from making an NWSL Best XI or the Ballon d’Or shortlist, to being one of the 11 USWNT players with the most minutes earned in recent years.
HIP funds will increase proportionally with the salary cap, ESPN first reported in January: $1.257 million in 2027, $1.342 million in 2028, $1.4 million in 2029 and $1.457 million in 2030.
Before additional revenue sharing, the salary cap will jump to $4.4 million next year (when team-provided housing goes away and many deals have been increased accordingly) and rise to $5.1 million in 2030.
