#If a team is not capable of paying players a minimum of 30-40k a year then i'm very sorry

[hardtchill]

I’m new to understanding money in sports, and especially the financial structure and limits of the nwsl. But it must be frustrating for teams like acfc or others who have so many wealthy backers to then be so limited in how much they’re allowed to pay their players each year when it seems like a lot of teams could find money elsewhere from investors or owners to give their players better salaries. Is this common in other sports too or is this more specific to the financial structure and limitations of the nwsl?? are there other ways teams with wealthy backers can support their players with low salaries so they don’t have to work a job while also playing for the nwsl?? I’m just trying to figure out where the salary limitations come from and what needs to change for things to be better.

This is a very complex system, but i'm going to focus on one thing in particular which in my opinion isn't talked about enough, the salary cap.

An NWSL team can spent a maximum of $682.500 a year on salaries. Now that sounds like a lot right? Ehh, not really.

If a team has 23 players and they would pay all 23 players 40k a year (which is still on the low side in my opinion) the total spent would get to $920.000, so massively over the cap. The cap forces teams to pay certain players 20k a year (the minimum) because otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay within the cap.

Now the cap was introduced to prevent a situation in which a few teams spent way more and basically dominate the league. But by doing that they have created a system in which teams pay players not enough to be financially independent. Players on the bottom end of the salary scale have very little chance of saving money for later and in a lot of cases need to work a 2nd job just to get by.

The only way teams can exceed the salary cap is by using allocation money, but this money is only used for players who would be getting more than 50k a year (50k is the max salary), not to supplement players who earn 20k a year. It also doesn't result in more money being available for those lower earning players.

Really what should happen according to me is that the minimum salary is drastically upped to at least 30k - 40k a year (i don't trust all teams to do the right thing even if the cap is upped). If you so wish you can still use a cap, but it should be way higher than it is now.

Important note: the salary cap doesn't include healthcare, housing and transportation. Those are separate things players get.

#ask #nwsl #uswnt #for the people saying that teams will fold because 40k is too much to pay every player #If a team is not capable of paying players a minimum of 30-40k a year then i'm very sorry #but they shouldn't be in business.