NWSL submits draft to revise workers’ rights in sport

Is the amateur draft now on the clock?

Last week, one of the smallest professional leagues in the United States announced a new collective bargaining agreement with its players, but the changes implemented by the National Women's Soccer League, including eliminating the selection of college players, are likely to make the four major North American leagues at least a little nervous.

The circumstances that led the NWSL to adopt a full free agency model are admittedly unique. Soccer is the most global sport, and the women's game produces elite players on many continents. The NWSL's draft, which consisted (primarily) of NCAA players, was incompatible with the free agency automatically granted to amateurs in most parts of the world. This meant that college stars could bypass the NWSL entirely and negotiate directly with major clubs in countries like England, Spain and France. Conversely, elite players from other parts of the world were very unlikely to submit to the NWSL's draft, as they were effectively giving up their employment rights for a chance to play in the United States. In order to compete with the best European women's leagues for talent, the NWSL will now operate more like a top-tier European league.

However, the NWSL has also dropped the pretext underlying the use of the amateur draft in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB: that this process is necessary to ensure competitive balance and, ultimately, a healthy business.

The North American leagues have long used an argument that has survived many challenges in court: they depend on the distribution of their employees' talents among their teams in order to ensure a certain degree of equality and thus maintain the interest of broad fans in the sport.

The claim is that while teams compete against each other, they recognize that a certain level of cooperation is needed to fairly distribute the incoming talent and thus ensure the long-term survival of the league. Without the draft, the argument goes, all the good players would congregate in New York, Los Angeles or Miami and the whole thing would eventually fall apart. For this reason, athletes are subject to a draft process that would be unthinkable if it were run by, say, movie studios, law firms or virtually any other company.

The counter argument, of course, is that there are successful professional sports leagues in other parts of the world. Many, in fact! And they don't require new players to agree to transfer their rights to a particular team. Consider the case of English football star Jude Bellingham. He played for his hometown club Birmingham City in his youth, then was snapped up by Borussia Dortmund as a teenager, joining a German team known for its ability to nurture young talent. After a few brilliant seasons there, he signed for Real Madrid, arguably the biggest club in the world, at just 20 years old.

A comparable athlete growing up in North America would have to go to college (or junior hockey) and then agree to be drafted by one of the worst teams in the league, where he would play for several years before having control of his employer. The basketball version of Bellingham would have to spend another five or six years with the Charlotte Hornets.

Are foreign leagues facing collapse due to a lack of parity? No – but they do face some parity-related challenges. The gap in spending power between heavyweights like Real Madrid and Manchester City and their weaker domestic rivals does indeed create imbalances. But if you asked the fans of a small club whether they shouldn't just be given the right to sign the best teenagers in the country for a few seasons, they would think you were crazy. In the case of the NWSL, the salary cap will probably ensure that talent is spread around the league anyway.

The NWSL's change of course comes amid a major overhaul of labor rights for amateur athletes in North America. Successful court cases have cleared the way for NCAA players to sign lucrative endorsement deals, and in recent years these athletes have also been given the freedom to transfer schools without penalty (under certain conditions). Depending on the sport, it is now possible for NCAA athletes to earn more money and have more independence in their careers while still technically amateurs than once they turn pro and the draft system takes over. If that sounds counterintuitive, that's because it is.

What happens if the NWSL is bigger, richer and more successful in a few years after it abandons its draft? After all, that's the idea. What would the Big Four's claim then be that their drafts are vital to survival – and not just a cheap way to acquire young talent?

Obviously, that seems hollow. All it would take to change the status quo would be one of the same courts that have granted college athletes their freedom but frown upon the restrictions placed on aspiring professionals – or a prominent politician to champion the cause.

Just because the draft is the way it's always been done doesn't mean it's right. Funny that the fledgling NWSL figured this out first.

Scott Stinson is a contributing writer for theScore.