Exposure, opportunities, and, most importantly, potential—the NWSL possesses all these qualities. Since its inception over a decade ago, the American women’s soccer league has reached heights that few could have ever imagined. Yet, the current situation has witnessed the domestic tournament lose many of its talented stars to the European market. For USWNT icons Christen Press and Tobin Heath, it’s because of a fundamental ‘problem‘ that exists within NWSL.

Naomi Girma, Jenna Nighswonger, Kerolin, and Crystal Dunn are just a few of the high-profile players who have left the NWSL in pursuit of new opportunities in Europe. Of course, the list is far more than just these names but the reality is that the league has suffered significant losses. On top of that, no major signings to offset these departures have been made, making fans increasingly concerned about the uncertainty surrounding the league’s future.

Of course, it’s not a problem for big European clubs like Chelsea to spend heavily, as they did by breaking the transfer record to bring in Girma. Then again, Heath believes this only exposes the major shortcomings of NWSL teams. “Chelsea is on a little bit of a spending spree,” began Heath while speaking on re__inc podcast, which she co-hosts alongside Press. “They’re in a little bit of retail therapy, buying all the players they can. But, it brings up some of the, I guess, hurdles of the NWSL.”

What exactly is this hurdle? Well, the former attacker insists that the root cause of the problem is NWSL’s strict salary cap. “Overall, the problem exists folks, because of the salary cap that is in the NWSL currently. Over in Europe, that does not exist. There is no salary cap in the WSL,” explained the ex-Seattle Reign star.

Interestingly, Christen Press also agreed with Heath’s perspective. The Angel City star is apparently not fond of the spending gap between America and Europe. In fact, Press firmly believes it’s one of the reasons why players are leaving the NWSL at such a high rate. “The difference is so gross that it makes it almost not worthy of a daily discussion as to why players are going to the UK,” she added.

Either way, these are some bold claims from both USWNT icons, and there are, of course, numbers to back them.

NWSL can’t compete with the riches of Europe if the salary cap remains

In 2024, the salary cap in the NWSL was approximately $2.4 million. This certainly means that teams had to pay all of their players within this stipulated mark. Now, for this year, the salary cap is said to have been raised to $3.3 million. Surely, it can be termed as substantial, when considering the percentage year-over-year growth.

But when you compare what’s going on in Europe, it will definitely knock your socks off. Taking the example of Chelsea, the WSL giants spent a whopping $12.5 million on transfers alone in 2024. Even if you take several NWSL teams’ transfer budgets, this number would still exceed. As for salary caps, it’s not like WSL teams don’t have them at all. That’s because the WSL teams operate under a ‘soft‘ salary cap.

What it means is that instead of a fixed limit, the cap is set as a part of a club’s revenue. This allows teams to allocate up to 40% of their revenue towards player salaries. Of course, it includes revenue generated by parent clubs. Hence, this would mean that the English teams affiliated with larger men’s sides can, in theory, invest more in their squads. However, this system has faced criticism for exacerbating the spending disparity between clubs.

No wonder the salary cap is in place in the NWSL. Its purpose is to promote competitive balance by preventing a few wealthy teams from signing all the top players and dominating the league. However, it seems like retaining this rule in place is also hindering the NWSL’s ability to attract global talent. Though it’s unlikely that stakeholders will consider removing the salary cap, it remains to be seen how they will address the challenge of being outshined by European clubs due to this limitation.