NWSL

The NWSL informed its players they could be adversely affected financially and "out money" due to the bankruptcy filing of Voyager Digital, according to Sportico's Eben Novy-Williams and Emily Caron.

In December, Voyager struck a deal with the NWSL to become the league's official cryptocurrency partner. Under the terms of the agreement, Voyager planned to fund a crypto account for every player in the NWSL.

Novy-Williams and Caron reported Voyager has yet to provide funds for the crypto account and it's not yet clear whether the players will receive the money they were originally allotted.

The Sportico report included a portion of a letter the league wrote to its players:

The Player Fund was always intended to be distributed into accounts at Voyager in cryptocurrency, with the goal of educating players regarding investment in the crypto space. As such, there was always risk regarding the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.

Amid wider disruption across the cryptocurrency market, Voyager issued a notice of default to Three Arrows Capital in June regarding a loan of around $675 million. Days later, Three Arrows filed for bankruptcy, raising further concerns over Voyager's financial health. The company's own bankruptcy filing followed shortly thereafter.

Pressed on how this was impacting the NWSL, Commissioner Jessica Berman provided few specifics when speaking with reporters on July 14:

Novy-Williams and Caron noted the Voyager sponsorship deal was different from how teams or leagues have typically aligned with crypto firms because it outlined the individual payouts to players.

Voyager drew further scrutiny for claiming its consumer accounts were protected by FDIC insurance, which reimburses every account up to $250,000 in the event of a bank collapse.

The Federal Reserve and FDIC issued a joint statement on July 28 demanding Voyager "cease and desist from making false and misleading statements regarding its FDIC deposit insurance status and take immediate action to correct any such prior statements."

Voyager's Risk Disclosure now reads, "Cryptocurrency held on the Voyager Platform is not protected by FDIC insurance or any other government-backed or third party insurance."

Portland Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie became the youngest goalscorer in NWSL history during Sunday's match against the Houston Dash.

The 16-year-old put Portland ahead 3-0 in the 74th minute when she collected a pass from teammate Sophia Smith and shot from close range.

Moultrie returned the favor in the 82nd minute, providing an assist for Smith as the Thorns added to their advantage.

The Oregon native broke new ground in the NWSL when she signed with the team in 2021. She was only 15 at the time, well below what had been the league's minimum age (18). She and the NWSL eventually reached a settlement in July 2021 that allowed her to suit up for the Thorns.

Moultrie made nine appearances for Portland during the 2021 season and played in four games, making one start, to open 2022.

The Orlando Pride announced Tuesday they placed head coach Amanda Cromwell and assistant coach Sam Greene on temporary administrative leave.

"The decisions come following recommendations from the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the NWSL Players Association (NWSLPA) joint investigative team," the team said. "This is an interim step while the investigation is ongoing, and no final determinations or conclusions have been reached."

The NWSL provided additional context, saying the investigation is focused on "alleged retaliation" that would violate the league's policy to prevent and eliminate workplace discrimination, harassment, and bullying.

The Athletic's Meg Linehan reported the NWSL has frozen any movement for members of the Pride squad amid the investigation.

Seb Hines will serve as interim head coach of the Pride, who are ninth in the NWSL table after taking eight points from their first seven matches.

Cromwell and Greene's leaves of absence follow a wider reckoning across the league that involved alleged misconduct within multiple clubs.

The Washington Post's Molly Hensley-Clancy reported in August 2021 that then-Washington Spirit head coach Richie Burke had verbally abused his players and made racially insensitive remarks in the past. The Spirit's issues extended beyond the coaching staff and created what Hensley-Clancy called a "toxic work culture."

In September 2021, Linehan reported on allegations of sexual coercion and abuse against Paul Riley, who was the head coach of the North Carolina Courage at the time and had previously coached the Portland Thorns.

One month later, OL Reign CEO Bill Predmore confirmed Farid Benstiti was "asked to resign" in July 2021 after he made inappropriate remarks toward his players. Reign star Megan Rapinoe later said Benstiti used fat-shaming during one interaction with the team.

The multiple scandals resulted in the resignation of NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird, and the launch of an independent investigation by U.S. Soccer overseen by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Still, a new report from Hensley-Clancy laid out how much work remained to address larger structural issues.

She wrote last November how players from the Chicago Red Stars approached U.S. Soccer in order to alert officials as to alleged verbal and emotional abuse by coach Rory Dames. Dames kept his job at the time, with United States women's national team star Christen Press telling Hensley-Clancy she had "been told to be quiet, that this was fine."

In April, the Houston Dash announced they suspended head coach and general manager James Clarkson "in light of initial findings, received this week, from the joint NWSL and NWSLPA investigation that was launched last year to review current and historic complaints of discrimination, harassment and abuse."

Arizona Cardinals defensive end J.J. Watt announced Thursday that he and his wife, National Women's Soccer League player Kealia Ohai Watt, are expecting their first child together.

Watt made the announcement with a collection of photos of him and Ohai on Twitter:

Ohai and Watt began dating in 2016, got engaged in 2019 and married each other in 2020. Both Watt and Ohai are now set to become parents for the first time.

Watt, 33, is an 11-year NFL veteran who spent the first 10 years of his career with the Houston Texans before signing with the Cards last offseason.

With five Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections, as well as three NFL Defensive Player of the Year Awards and 102 career sacks, Watt is likely a future Pro Football Hall of Famer.

Watt is looking to bounce back in 2022 after he was limited to just seven games because of a shoulder injury last season.

The 30-year-old Ohai has been a professional soccer player since 2014 after starring collegiately at North Carolina.

She played for the Houston Dash from 2014-19 before getting traded to the Chicago Red Stars, her current team.

Ohai has made three career appearances for the United States women's national team and won a FIFA World Cup with the under-20 team in 2012. She also won the NCAA Division I national championship that year.

NJ/NY Gotham FC announced Wednesday that Thirty Five Ventures, led by Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant and business partner Rich Kleiman, has joined the club's ownership group as a minority investor.

"As a New York-based company, the opportunity for us to partner with a forward-thinking team like Gotham FC was a no-brainer," Kleiman said. "There's been so much growth in the NWSL in recent years, and the chance to be a part of that growth and work directly with the Gotham FC executive team and players is really exciting."

It's the second investment in a soccer club for Thirty Five Ventures, which is also a minority owner in MLS' Philadelphia Union. The company also added the Just Women's Sports media network to its portfolio last year.

The agreement with Gotham FC includes "content creation, social media support, player relations and community outreach."

"Bringing in Kevin, Rich and 35V as investors is a huge statement about the positive trajectory of our club," team chairperson Tammy Murphy said. "The level of enthusiasm they’ve displayed has been above and beyond anything we could have anticipated."

Thirty Five Ventures is the latest arrival to the Gotham FC ownership group. Longtime USWNT forward Carli Lloyd, who finished her club career with NY/NJ, joined in April, and KB2 Sports' Kristen Bernert and Karen Bryant joined in March, per Meg Linehan of The Athletic.

Murphy and her husband, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, along with businessmen Steven Temares and Ed Nalbandian, lead the club's ownership.

Gotham FC was founded in 2006 under the name Jersey Sky Blue and later became Sky Blue FC before its most recent rebranding in 2020.

The club shares Red Bull Arena in New Jersey with MLS' New York Red Bulls.

NY/NJ qualified for last season's NWSL playoffs before losing to the Chicago Red Stars in the quarterfinals. It also advanced to the championship match of the 2021 Challenge Cup before falling to the Portland Thorns in a penalty shootout.

Gotham FC kicked off the 2022 NWSL season Sunday with a 3-0 road win over the Orlando Pride. It will visit Torero Stadium on Saturday to face the San Diego Wave.

A number of USWNT players, including Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Crystal Dunn, wrote a letter to the U.S. Soccer Federation on Wednesday accusing the organizing body of failing to protect its female players, per Molly Hensley-Clancy of the Washington Post.

"U.S. Soccer had the obligation to protect its players—yet it stood by as abuse continued to occur unchecked," the players wrote in the letter to federation president Cindy Parlow Cone and former president Carlos Cordeiro.

They added that the federation "failed to do the bare minimum—to keep us and the young girls who play in the youth leagues safe."

"Over the years, while we played on the USWNT and in the National Women's Soccer League, many of us reported to USSF instances where, as adults, we experienced abusive conduct by our coaches," the letter continued. "Now we have learned that this abusive treatment also was repeatedly reported by minors and that USSF failed to respond to protect these young players. That is utterly disheartening."

The letter comes in the wake of Hensley-Clancy reporting Tuesday that former players of coach Rory Dames—who resigned in November right before allegations of emotional abuse surfaced against him, one of a number of NSWL coaches to resign or be fired amid similar accusations—had raised concerns about him with police as far back as 1998.

Per that report, one woman said Dames "cultivated an inappropriate relationship with her from age 14—conduct she now sees as 'grooming.' Once she turned 18, the woman said, he used his power over her soccer career, and the control he had long exerted in her life, to have sex with her as she was still playing for him at Eclipse in the early 2000s."

In a 1998 police report, one girl said he "touched her inappropriately on her upper thigh," another girl said he pinched her when she refused to massage him and a boy said Dames punched him in the stomach.

And Megan Cnota told the Washington Post that she told police Dames made "degrading sexual jokes" about her. Other players reportedly made similar complaints to police.

The authorities, however, dropped the investigation after Dames' accusers didn't file formal complaints and prosecutors didn't further pursue the case.

Dames kept his job, and per Hensley-Clancy, 14 of his former youth players said he was "verbally and emotionally abusive toward them as teenagers, for many in ways that they say left lasting psychological damage."

USWNT forward Christen Press told the Washington Post last year that she raised concerns about Dames to U.S. Soccer on two separate occasions. The federation reportedly investigated Dames but didn't take any action against him.

He also didn't have his coaching license suspended by U.S. Soccer when the allegations of emotional and verbal abuse were first levied against him in November. Instead, the federation only took that action after the Washington Post questioned it about the accusations.

"USSF should have immediately removed coaching licenses from abusers," the players wrote. "Instead, USSF allowed those individuals to coach while saying it would investigate."

Multiple women accused Rory Dames—who resigned as head coach of the NWSL's Chicago Red Stars in November following allegations of emotional abuse—of verbal abuse and sexual misconduct during his time as a youth coach in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Molly Hensley-Clancy of the Washington Post reported Tuesday the Arlington Heights Police Department in Illinois launched an investigation into Dames' conduct in 1998 after a female player said he "touched her inappropriately on her upper thigh" and was "very verbally inappropriate."

The player who made that allegation decided against lodging a formal complaint against Dames at the time, saying she only wanted to "protect other players from [Dames'] advances," and she declined to comment to the Washington Post about Dames.

Hensley-Clancy obtained documents from the 150 interviews conducted as part of the 1998 investigation, which came when Dames was 25 and a key figure in the Chicago-area soccer scene as founder of the Eclipse Select Soccer Club and head coach St. Viator High School.

Megan Cnota, one of the players interviewed 24 years ago, told the Post that Dames made "degrading sexual jokes" about her and several teammates provided similar stories, while others raised concerns about time he spent alone with young players.

"We tried to make it come to light 25 years ago and nobody believed those teenagers," Cnota said.

Another woman alleged Dames began "grooming" her at the age of 14 and started a sexual relationship with her once she turned 18. She told Hensley-Clancy the way the relationship formed made her feel there was no way out.

"But I always thought to myself, 'This isn't a choice for me,'" she said. "If he says come over, then yes, in some other reality of life, maybe I could make the choice not to. But in my life, I felt like, there wasn't that choice with him. If he [instant messaged] me, 'Come over,' it was, 'Come over.'"

Other players recounted a wide range of verbal insults he used: "p--sies," "donkeys," "f--king idiots," "retarded," "fat f--k," "fat c--t" and "fat ass."

Hensley-Clancy spoke to "five women who played for Dames at St. Viator and Eclipse in the 1990s and early 2000s" who "recounted similar stories to those that girls told police in 1998, including that they were uncomfortable with the amount of time Dames spent with girls outside of soccer."

"Looking back on it, you think, 'What the hell is that guy doing hanging out with teenagers?'" Cnota said. "It was grooming behavior. It's sickening."

Dames yielded immense power as he worked to make himself the sole connection point between his players and college programs, "chiding coaches who reached out directly to parents or players without going through him," per Hensley-Clancy.

In turn, players and parents became afraid to speak up out of fear of losing college scholarship opportunities.

"He could single-handedly take your future in soccer away if he wanted to," former player Haley Leanna told the Washington Post. "No one wanted to risk that."

Susan Bogart, Dames' attorney, said no charges were ever brought against her client based on the 1998 investigation and described the claims made in the Washington Post report as "unfounded." She said the reviews by a sex crimes prosecutor and a social worker also found her client had "not acted abusively toward players."

Bogart added the former coach "did not and has not called players names" and argued the Post was "damaging and destroying" his reputation by moving forward with "false allegations of sexual misconduct for which there are no facts and relying on anonymous sources."

She also referenced a 2018 investigation by U.S. Soccer, which investigated claims brought by NWSL players but levied no sanctions against him and allowed him to keep coaching.

U.S. Soccer has since suspended Dames' coaching license, a decision Bogart said came only after the Washington Post approached the governing body with previously unreported details from the 1998 investigation.

Eclipse Select didn't respond to inquiries from Hensley-Clancy about whether Dames continued to hold a position of power within the program, though the club's current president, Mike Nesci, confirmed Dames "voluntarily ceased" coaching at the club in October.

Dames, a former college player at Saint Louis University, had coached the Red Stars for 11 years before his resignation.

Washington Spirit star Trinity Rodman will be the highest-paid player in the history of the National Women's Soccer League after signing a new four-year deal worth $1.1 million, per Caitlin Murray of ESPN.

The club announced the extension Wednesday, keeping the forward under team control through 2024 with an option for 2025. Though terms of the deal were not disclosed, her agency, Octagon Soccer, noted the new record:

The 19-year-old is set to make $281,000 annually, per Emily Caron of Sportico, topping the $250,000 salary of United States women's national team stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe.

Rodman accepted her first call-up with the USWNT in January and could get her first cap at the SheBelieves Cup later this month.

The daughter of Basketball Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman was the No. 2 pick in the 2021 NWSL draft. She exceeded expectations with seven goals and seven assists in 25 games (22 starts), earning the league's Rookie of the Year award. She also helped the Spirit win their first championship with a win over the Chicago Red Stars in the title game.

With the NWSL agreeing to its first-ever collective bargaining agreement on Monday, teams are now allowed to increase certain salaries using allocation money, moving beyond the max salary of $75,000.

Rodman becomes the biggest beneficiary of the change as she looks to become one of the league's brightest stars.

"We're incredibly excited to have Trin as a part of the Spirit family for at least the next three seasons," Spirit head coach Kris Ward said in the release. "She has a truly special career ahead of her and makes us a better club on all fronts."

The Spirit will be back in action for the 2022 Challenge Cup in March before the start of the NWSL regular season.    

The National Women's Soccer League announced Monday that it had agreed to the first collective bargaining agreement in league history with the players' association.

The CBA will be in place through the 2026 season and sets the stage for players to report to the first day of preseason on Tuesday.

"The NWSLPA is grateful to our brothers and sisters in the labor movement who paved the way for us to get here and to our fans and partners for their unwavering support," the NWSLPA said in a statement. "... To the players who came before us: We stand on your shoulders. We hope we made you proud."

NWSLPA President Tori Huster also commented on the CBA:

The league's announcement highlighted an "increased total investment in players" that includes raising salaries for all players and increasing the minimum salary by nearly 60 percent to $35,000. There will also be housing, transportation, insurance, retirement contributions, higher bonuses, more compensation for promotional purposes and revenue sharing.

Additionally, the CBA provides 42 days of vacation, a seven-day summer break during the season, parental leave and mental health leave to go along with "improved health and wellness benefits" such as team physicians, sports psychologists and sports scientists.

Perhaps most notably, it sets in place a free agency system after Meg Linehan of The Athletic reported earlier this month it was "one of the major issues that must be addressed" even after there was "tentative agreements between the players and the league in place on a number of fronts thanks to more than 35 bargaining sessions."

Full free agency will start in 2023 for those with six years of service, while those with three years of service can become restricted free agents starting in 2024. Those with five years of service can become full free agents in 2024.

NWSL interim CEO Marla Messing released a statement:

This is a historic moment for women's soccer in the United States. This transformative agreement represents deserved advancements for our players, including significantly stronger compensation packages and benefits, enhanced training and playing environments, and a long-term commitment to continually improve the standards we all regard as essential to securing our position as the best women's soccer league in the world. Our owners are committed to providing the significant and unprecedented investment required to build and sustain a professional women's soccer league that properly supports our players, both as professional soccer players and as individuals. We thank the NWSLPA leadership and the players for their thoughtful approach on the CBA and look forward to continuing to collaborate with them to create the best environment for our players to succeed.

Linehan noted the league and players started negotiations in 2020, although NWSLPA executive director Meghann Burke said ownership first started attending sessions in October 2021.

The National Women's Soccer League held its 2022 expansion draft Thursday for the two new clubs being added to the league: Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC.

The clubs were allowed to "select one player from each NWSL team, and no more than one U.S.-allocated player in total from all teams," according to an NWSL release.

Four clubs had full protection from the expansion draft: the Chicago Red Stars, the Kansas City Current, Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage. Caitlin Murray of ESPN explained that these teams earned full immunity "through a series of trades before last week's roster freeze."

Here's each pick made Thursday, along with a deeper look at the notable selections.

2022 NWSL Expansion Draft Results

1. Angel City FC - Dani Weatherholt, Midfield (OL Reign)

2. San Diego Wave FC - Kristie Mewis, Midfield (Houston Dash); traded to NJ/NY Gotham FC

3. Angel City FC - Claire Emslie, Forward (Orlando Pride)

4. San Diego Wave FC - Kristen McNabb, Defender (OL Reign)

5. Angel City FC - Jasmyne Spencer, Forward (Houston Dash)

6. San Diego Wave FC - Passed

7. Angel City FC - Paige Nielsen, Defender (Washington Spirit)

8. San Diego Wave FC - Passed

9. San Diego Wave FC - Kaleigh Riehl, Defender (Racing Louisville)

Dani Weatherholt is a defensive midfielder known for her steadiness and composure on the pitch. She will be a key in helping organize Angel City's back line. Depending on which international players land with Angel City, Weatherholt can also be used as a depth piece coming off the bench.

Weatherholt joins a team that already includes Christen Press and Julie Ertz.

San Diego made a splash with United States women's national team member Kristie Mewis. She was set to join USWNT teammate Alex Morgan, who signed with the team Monday. But Mewis' time with the Wave was short-lived, as she was traded to Gotham FC after the draft.

There has been some speculation that Mewis will join Tottenham Hotspur on loan, but that remains to be seen.

The Wave also did a good job of solidifying its back line by selecting defender Kristen McNabb with its next pick.

Angel City made some sneaky-good moves with its next two selections, landing speedy forward Jasmyne Spencer and versatile defender Paige Nielsen. Spencer is a strong attacker and could fit as a starter or a spark off the bench.

Nielsen can emerge as a key player on Angel City thanks to her ability to play multiple positions on the back end.

San Diego was apparently satisfied with the players it already landed and passed on back-to-back picks before adding a depth piece in defender Kaleigh Riehl.