LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Today, the National Women's Soccer League became the first league in U.S. professional sports to get rid of the draft. The move was negotiated between the League and the Players Association in a new contract. So what does this actually mean for players? Let's ask Ali Krieger. She recently retired from playing after many seasons in the League and two World Cup wins with the national team. Ali, good morning, and thanks for joining us.
ALI KRIEGER: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.
FADEL: So the big headline here is that the draft is gone, which means players can pick the team they want to play for if they get competing offers. Why was this so important for players?
KRIEGER: Well, this was important for players because players now can decide where they want to go and what they want to make by doing, you know, the job that they value and love so much. And this gives players an option to decide, hey, this is, you know, the city that I want to live in. This is the money that I want to make. This is great for my family. And they have a decision now of where they want to be and how they want to control their own career. And what environment will help them be successful. And so that is refreshing because that's just like any other league in the world where I've played overseas. And you're allowed to choose what city you want to live in. You're allowed to choose which team you want to represent and the location that you want to be in to really help your career. And so I think this is going to benefit players tremendously.
FADEL: I mean, on the face of it, it is actually kind of wild that if you get competing offers prior to today, if they got competing offers, you couldn't pick one offer over the other. The team picked.
KRIEGER: Yeah, well, you would get drafted to a specific team, and unless you got traded or your contract ran out, then you'd be able to decide next where you wanted to go. And players would just get announced sometimes, you know, 20 minutes before they would get traded, and you wouldn't know. And so it's a really difficult situation because you think you're going to be in one place for however long your contract is written. And then all of a sudden, you can just get traded midway through the season and go to a new city. It just happened recently this week with a few players. And so then you have to, like, pick up all your stuff and head out.
FADEL: Did that ever happen to you, where you just suddenly had to move?
KRIEGER: Yes, it happened to me. I was in Washington, D.C. I was playing from a hometown team, and I found out on Twitter basically 20 minutes before I got traded to Orlando Pride in 2017, right before 2017. And so it was right after the Olympics, and I was captain of the team in D.C. and felt like that was, you know, obviously where I wanted to stay and retire and play my whole career. And then I got uprooted and sent to Orlando. And so that was definitely a shock for me along.
FADEL: So this is pretty significant because this league becomes the first to drop the draft. Do you think this will put pressure on other sports leagues to do the same and give players more agency?
KRIEGER: Yeah, I think this is a really smart decision. I think that players just want to go where they want to go and go where, you know, they're offered maybe the biggest contract. So the expansion draft is abolished immediately. And the draft is a model that treats people as property to be bought and sold instead of, you know, having a decision on your career and where you want to go. And the new terms will empower players to decide which team environment, like we spoke about, is the best fit for their needs and development in order to get to where they want to go. For me as an example, right after college, we didn't have a league. And so I wasn't forced into a draft. I was actually, you know, taking a choice to go play in Europe, but that was my choice, and that was my risk, but I wanted to set myself up in order to make the national team, and that's kind of the path that I took. So, personally, players now will have that decision and kind of, you know, be in control of their career, so to speak.
FADEL: Ali Krieger, a longtime professional soccer player who recently retired and a World Cup champion. Thank you for your time.
KRIEGER: Thank you. I appreciate it, too.
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