In some ways, this NWSL offseason is playing out as usual. Player movement remains the main focus of the winter months, new signings fitting into puzzles that were months in the making for general managers, revealing the plans each team has for themselves in the coming year.
The needs change from year to year, but the routines do not. Coaching and technical staff still watch hours and hours of film of potential recruits, send scouts on trips and find out whatever they can about those players before talking to them and finalizing a deal. The ever-evolving league, though, is in uncharted territory of its own design this winter – the collegiate athletes they will sign this offseason will join the league as free agents rather than through a draft.
The NWSL ratified a new collective bargaining agreement in August that eliminated all drafts immediately, becoming the first professional league to rid itself of a practice that has been a staple of the American sports landscape since the NFL introduced it in 1936. The decision has created a new landscape for players and clubs alike, some changes more predictable than others.
“It’s the same amount of work. It’s the same work.” Haley Carter, the vice president of…
