The NWSL found out about Angel City’s salary-cap violation when one of its former players signed with another team and brought up the existence of a supplementary agreement, The Athletic has been told.
The league announced the discovery on Thursday, saying it had conducted an investigation and found violations of salary-cap rules, including what it called “side letters” (agreements outside the standard contract) between Angel City and five players that were not disclosed to the league. These side letters included additional benefits outside the NWSL’s standard player agreement. The league found Angel City “exceeded the salary cap by approximately $50,000 for four weeks during the 2024 season”.
The league subsequently deducted three points from Angel City for the 2024 season, fined the club $200,000 and suspended president/CEO Julie Uhrman and general manager Angela Hucles Mangano from all duties relating to player transactions for the rest of the year.
Speaking to The Athletic before the NWSL Shield presentation in Orlando on Sunday, league commissioner Jessica Berman did not share the specifics of what these side letters entailed or in which categories (such as bonuses, child care or relocation expenses) Angel City had spent the money on to put them in violation of cap rules. The revelation by one of the team’s former players prompted the league to follow up with questions about compliance.
“We have very clear rules that require all agreements with players to be disclosed to the league,” Berman told The Athletic. “Any agreements that are not disclosed are by definition a violation of our rules.”
NWSL players sign their contracts, or ‘standard player agreements’ (SPAs), directly with the league as part of its single-entity structure. Berman said that some of what had been in the side letters was simply repeating the contents of the SPA, but some of it was new.
“The things that were different or in excess of what was in the SPA are what resulted in the additional violation of also not complying with the salary cap,” she said.
“The league pays the player. We have a system for submitting payments or requests to be paid, and then the league processes it through our payroll. We then do a netting of all of that with the clubs to reimburse the league, but ultimately, as it relates to the players, the league is the party that pays the players. Clubs are not to be paying players directly. There should not be circumstances where players are under an agreement with a club without the league, not only just knowing about it, but being a party to it.”
In an earlier anonymous survey of general managers by ESPN, some GMs said they found the league’s rules complicated or hard to understand. Berman disagreed with this survey result, saying, “The rules are very clear.”
She added, “We have gone above and beyond to communicate with all stakeholders proactively about our roles. We have five full-time staff working with our clubs every day on player transactions who are available to answer questions as part of the system if anyone is confused.”
When in doubt, Berman emphasized, teams should divulge any compensation. “Always ask, always be disclosing,” she said.
Berman said the league routinely asks teams about their salary-cap compliance. The Angel City investigation was triggered by receiving new information. Going forward, however, the league will conduct more team audits, as communicated in its press release announcing disciplinary action against Angel City.
“We are now going to proactively investigate and audit clubs on a random basis,” Berman said. “Given the importance of our salary cap — particularly within the construct of our system and our desire to ensure we’re creating a league that’s viable and financially sustainable — it’s critically important we make sure everybody who’s working in our ecosystem knows that our rules matter and that we’re going to stand behind them and ensure compliance, and this is a way of building confidence and reinforcing our rules.”
Berman did not say if any clubs were already being audited or what the timeline might be for concluding an audit. In terms of consequences, she broke down any potential disciplinary action into categories: financial, competitive, individual and club. She also pointed out that NWSL has one less disciplinary mechanism than other American leagues when it comes to salary-cap violations — the league eliminated the college draft, so it cannot take away draft picks. However, it would still consider using other mechanisms, such as taking away salary-cap room or, as it did with Angel City, suspending some individuals from making transactions.
Berman said the league reviews its entire operations and competition manual in the off-season and will continue with its rules analysis, including financial regulations.
“We’re looking at the landscape through a strategic lens and asking ourselves, ‘What is the best way for us to accomplish our goals and objectives, and are there any rules that are enhancing or standing in the way of us doing that?’,” she said.
(Top photo: Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
