The NWSL will have to pay $5 million to players who were abused and submit regular accounts detailing how it is addressing reports of harassment and discrimination following a joint investigation by the attorney generals of New York, Illinois, and Washington D.C., the offices announced Wednesday.
The news followed an investigation by all three attorneys general that found—like the other investigations before it—that the league failed to prevent or adequately respond to player reports of harassment and sexual misconduct. From the purview of the attorneys general, this also put the league in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, or national origin, as well as in violation of each state’s human rights act.
It is the first time the NWSL as a whole has faced financial consequences for years of leaving abusive conduct by coaches unchecked. Previous investigations fined individual teams and suspended individual coaches, but left the league itself free of financial penalties.
"We owe it to the brave women who came forward with their stories not to let it happen ever again, and today is about righting these wrongs and protecting women in sports," New York Attorney General Letitia James said. "It is about ensuring that the players who received the compensation, who suffered, received the compensation that they are owed, and that the league continues to make meaningful steps prevent this from ever happening again."
The $5 million will go into a restitution fund, which will be administered by former U.S. district judge Barbara Jones, and Jones will notify players who are eligible to receive money from it. Also as part of the agreement, the league said it will make more changes.They include:
- Prospective hires for coaching, general managers, and head trainers must undergo a background check at the U.S. Olympic Committee standard, at minimum.
- Have multiple mechanisms for players to report misconduct, including at least one confidential reporting process separate from SafeSport.
- Establishing a league safety officer, and safety officers for each individual club.
- Provide a board-certified psychiatrist or doctoral-level psychologist to serve as team clinician, as well as a mental health performance coach.
- Provide unlimited free and confidential counseling services to all players via contracted clinical therapists and guarantee 80 percent insurance coverage for mental health services.
- Players are all entitled to take mental health leaves as recommended by mental health professionals.
How will the attorneys general know if the NWSL is complying? Included in the deal is the requirement that the league provide reports twice a year saying what it is doing to follow the settlement terms and "noting any complaints alleging misconduct involving player or staff safety," per a press release. The league also will have to report the results of the annual anonymous player surveys about coach conduct and team culture.
The NWSL will face a $2 million penalty per infraction for not following the settlement terms.
NWSLPA President Tori Huster spoke to the power of player unity after the settlement details were announced.
"It wasn't leadership that fixed this. It was players who refused to accept silence as an answer. For years, the league's response to abuse was denial, deflection and inaction," Hunter said. "It wasn't until players organized through the NWSLPA that real accountability became possible. This $5 million restitution fund is not a gift, nor is it justice. This fund exists because players refuse to be silenced, and we found the courage to stand together as a collective."
In 2021, NWSL players Kaiya McCullough, Mana Shim, and Sinead Farelly went public with their accounts of racial discrimination, sexual harassment, coercion, and verbal abuse by their former coaches. Some of these complaints went back several years, and yet nothing had been done by the league to address them.
Multiple investigations followed: one conducted for US Soccer, and the other for the NWSL and its players union. Both found systemic failures that allowed abuses to continue unchecked and made recommendations for changes the league should make to prevent further abuses. In response, the NWSL strengthened its anti-harassment policy and established an anonymous tip line for players and staff.
The recommendations are similar to those from the Sally Q. Yates report as well as the report from the NWSL and the NWSLPA. But those set up the NWSL to police itself. This will be the first time an investigation includes following up with a power holder outside the sphere of US Soccer.
When the NWSL released their statement in response to the joint NWSL and NWSLPA investigation, commissioner Jessica Berman commended the players who bravely spoke up, saying their bravery "prompted this comprehensive and unprecedented investigation, which has left no stone unturned, and will be critical to informing our future as we work to heal this league, take corrective action and implement systemic reform. We are committed to making all the necessary changes to create a safe and positive environment for our players, staff and fans."
Perhaps when the first report is submitted from the league back to the attorneys general, fans and observers can see if Berman and the league were true to their word.
You can read the agreement in full here.
