Controversial rule has NWSL taking cut of player brand deals -- or fining those who don't pay up

• 

  Jeff KassoufSep 3, 2026, 05:08 AM ET

  Close

  Jeff Kassouf covers women's soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women's soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.

Several NWSL players have flashed a middle finger (or two) to referees in recent years, but Michelle Cooper's form of defiance toward league authority this year may not look very controversial at first glance: her cleats.

She celebrated her game-winning goal in the Kansas City Current's thrilling 3-2 win over the North Carolina Courage on Saturday by kneeling and removing her right boot to hold it up and show it off to the crowd. It was not the first time this summer that Cooper made a point to highlight her New Balance boots -- and her reasoning has everything to do with a monetary battle off the field.

Cooper is the protagonist in the story of the NWSL's new footwear policy, which dictates what brands players can -- and cannot -- wear on the field. The NWSL says the new policy will help the league optimize commercial value, but for players like Cooper, it's a new roadblock to the kinds sponsorship deals they have always freely signed on their own.

Now, that clash has been playing out publicly, with Cooper as the face of it. She previously pointed to her cleats after scoring in July. Earlier in August, she trolled the NWSL by posting to Instagram a screenshot of an email from the league notifying her of disciplinary action over her choice of cleats. In the next photo, Cooper posted a link for fans to buy her brand of cleats.

The NWSL now requires brands to pay not just the players, but the league, for the right to have the brand's boot logo shown on the field. Cooper's cleat sponsor, New Balance, has no such deal in place.

Brands that don't pay up will have their products prohibited from being shown: if players wear them, the brand logos must be covered up. Players who don't oblige with covering the unsanctioned logos, like Cooper, will be fined.

While a footwear policy is common in other American professional sports leagues, it is a foreign concept in global soccer. The biggest problem, as it stands, is with exceptions to the rule, like Cooper and New Balance, who have a preexisting deal together.

New Balance is not currently an "authorized" footwear provider for the NWSL, and there are also boutique cleat brands whose innovations are supposed to solve injury issues specific to women's sports, but who cannot afford to pay the NWSL six figures for the supposed marketing benefits.

All of which makes the league's new footwear policy a microcosm of the NWSL: The policy is meant to tap into additional revenue in the rapidly evolving league but, like with the so-called "Rodman rule," it has been introduced with resistance and questions from players.

How does the NWSL's new sponsorship policy work?

Per the NWSL footwear policy that was implemented this year, any brand outside of league sponsor Nike must make a qualifying payment to the league, believed to be a minimum of $100,000. In addition, the brand must pay all sponsored players a minimum of $5,000 to wear that brand in official NWSL competitions.

An NWSL spokesperson declined to confirm the payment amount required by brands but told ESPN that brands' entry fees are "a sliding fee scale based on the number of athletes they sponsor." The $5,000 per player minimum mirrors the WNBA and remains the same for all brands, regardless of their scale. (The policy also applied to goalkeeper gloves.)

As of late August, only Adidas and Puma signed the league's agreement to join Nike as an authorized footwear provider. A league spokesperson told ESPN that the NWSL has had positive talks with New Balance. A representative for New Balance did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The NWSL first revealed a drafted policy to brands in March, with plans for the program to begin almost immediately, but according to multiple league and industry sources, the start date of the program kept shifting, which created further confusion for players and brands.

The league contends that it has grown to be a serious commercial entity that provides brands with significant exposure and, therefore, must be compensated for it. By signing up for this "authorized footwear supplier" agreement, non-Nike brands would be allowed to use the name and likeness of teams and the league to promote their players.

For example, if Cooper won the MVP award, New Balance could feature imagery of her in her Kansas City gear in their own marketing -- if they bought into this agreement.

If a player chooses to wear an unsanctioned brand of footwear during a game, they must cover up the manufacturer's logo, an NWSL spokesperson confirmed to ESPN. Failure to adhere to that would begin with a warning, followed by a $500 fine for the second violation, a $1,000 fine for the third violation, and doubling each time after that, ESPN confirmed.

No fines have been paid to the league yet because there is an open grievance filed by the NWSL Players Association. (Sources say the NWSLPA takes issue with the enforcement of the policy, especially around pre-existing sponsorships, like in the case of Cooper and New Balance.)

An additional wrinkle: Even if a player wears an approved brand, that player must also receive individual payments under the exposure agreement for the footwear to be considered legal, unless those cleats are Nike.

So, if a player wears Adidas because they prefer the brand, but she is not being paid the $5,000 minimum by Adidas, that is also a violation if she does not conceal the logos. Nike, as the league sponsor since the NWSL's launch in 2013, will provide clubs with additional boots for unsponsored players, which the NWSL argues adds additional value for each club.

Players and brands stuck in the middle

Professional players with pre-existing boot deals who transfer into the NWSL from another pro league can maintain those deals through the end of the deal term, a league spokesperson told ESPN.

Still, that language excludes players already in the NWSL who have deals with "unauthorized" brands. NIL deals that players are increasingly signing in college are also excluded from exemption. Cooper signed with New Balance after winning the 2022 MAC Hermann Trophy as college soccer's best player at Duke University. She was selected No. 2 overall in the 2023 NWSL Draft by Kansas City.

Disruptor brands who are pushing footwear innovation to reduce injuries could also be forced out of the league due to the new policy.

Jack Rasmussen, founder of Caddix, told ESPN that the league's ask of $100,000 would be "a serious detriment to our business." Kansas City Current defender Kayla Sharples was the first NWSL player to wear Caddix, whose boots feature patented studs that are designed to reduce rotational forces that contribute to knee injuries.

Rasmussen said he decided to pay Sharples the $5,000 player fee in response to the league's new policy. This week, Sharples received her first fine for wearing Caddix.

Women's gear brand IDA currently supplies boots to four NWSL players and is in discussions with several other players, chief operating officer Rachel LaSala told ESPN. IDA co-founder Laura Youngson said that they have been approached by players recently about wearing IDA, but the first question players ask is whether they will be able to wear the boot in games.

IDA surveyed players and got a mixed response from those who would like to fight the policy and those who would rather not draw attention to themselves.

Both Caddix and IDA have found success recently due to what they say is a new research-backed approach to designing sports gear.

Caddix has become a hit with NFL players who are voluntarily switching to the shoe brand because of its pivoting studs. IDA entered mainstream retail space and garnered investment in recent years (including from NWSL club owner Michelle Kang) thanks to its focus on cleats made specifically for women. Until recently, women's players often tried to fit into men's shoes or they had limited options.

"Everyone else is gonna play by the rules and I don't think the rules are worth playing by," Rasmussen told ESPN. "I don't. I think it creates so much dissention and division between players and the league itself. I'm here for the players."

Rasmussen said that that several NFL players who wear Caddix, including Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco, have offered to pay any fines that Sharples incurs.

Global sports footwear is a $100 billion-plus industry, and there are plenty of big brands that can afford the NWSL's new fees. The league believes there are hundreds of thousands of dollars in initial annual revenue to be earned from footwear brands.

An NWSL spokesperson provided ESPN with the following statement:

"The NWSL's footwear exposure framework recognizes the significant value generated by our players and competition. It provides a clear pathway for brands seeking visibility through the league, establishes minimum compensation standards for sponsored players, provides additional product and equipment support for players without individual sponsorship agreements, and creates expanded marketing opportunities for participating brands and athletes.

"As the league grows, this structure helps ensure brands benefiting from exposure through NWSL players are making meaningful investments in both the athletes and the league. Players may wear footwear from any brand, but logos from brands that do not participate in the framework must be covered during matches."

An unusual concept in soccer

Brands paying to become "authorized footwear" is a concept particularly prominent in American sports leagues. The NFL and NBA have long had rules around footwear colors and brands, with each only allowing more freedom of choice in shoe colors over the past decade.

In global soccer, however, players' footwear has always been a sacred ground of personal choice. Some players have endorsement deals while others, especially players lower on the roster, still buy their own cleats.

An NWSL spokesperson told ESPN that, technically, the league's standard player agreement has always required approved footwear. Now, it appears the league feels it's on stronger footing to start enforcing it.

Language in current standard player agreements (players sign contracts directly with the NWSL) states:

"The Player shall not display any logo upon or endorse, or agree to display any logo upon or endorse, any item of on‐ field equipment which is not produced by the Team's Official Equipment Supplier, except for goalkeeper's gloves and, footwear, which may display the logo of official League suppliers."

The NWSL has modeled the specifics of its shoe policy around that of the other major U.S. women's sports league, the WNBA. The WNBA's collective bargaining agreement requires that same $5,000 qualifying payment to players by brands.

NWSL team valuations have grown exponentially in recent years, along with sponsorship revenue, player salaries and attendance. Still, the WNBA is a league twice as old as the NWSL, and the WNBA attracts peak TV audiences that are significantly larger than the NWSL. Basketball is also a sport with inherently more close-up camera shots to feet than soccer, which is played on a much larger field.

The biggest point of contention among sources from brands to player agents has been communication around the policy. Many feel that the policy was introduced abruptly and without time for brands to plan, including the big brands and their already allocated marketing budgets. (An NWSL spokesperson said the league began speaking with the NWSLPA about this in 2024.)

The start date of the rule shifted from March to summer, but there still is not clarity for how to grandfather in cases like that of Cooper, a top NWSL player and a U.S. women's national team player who has a years-long endorsement deal already established.

Everyone who spoke with ESPN appears to accept the general concept of the rule or, at minimum, they are resigned to the fact that the league is going to move forward with it. Still, those impacted would like answers before a rule is implemented rather than confusion after it has gone into place.

In the meantime, there will continue to be players like Cooper, defiantly wearing "unauthorized" cleats -- and bringing perhaps more attention to a brand that hasn't paid the NWSL's new fee.