With two new teams entering the league in 2024, the National Women’s Soccer League will be utilizing an expansion draft to help redistribute assets with the goal of ensuring continued parity to incoming teams. Bay FC and Utah Royals FC will take part in the 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft on December 15, 2023.
How does an expansion draft work?
Prior to the expansion draft, clubs will submit a list of protected and unprotected players by 2:00 pm ET on Tuesday, December 12. This list will be distributed to all clubs, and a public release of all lists will follow. Any team failing to submit their Protected/Unprotected List by the deadline will not be allowed to protect any players.
A random generator was used earlier in the year to determine which team will receive the first pick of the 2024 NWSL Draft and which team will receive the first pick of the NWSL Expansion Draft. Bay FC received the first pick in the expansion draft, which will then alternate between the two clubs through 12 rounds, with each team selecting up to 12 players.
Each incumbent team may lose no more than two unprotected players throughout the expansion draft. Expansion draft selections are not tradable assets, but players selected in the draft can be traded following the draft’s conclusion.
Each team will have three minutes per round to make a selection. The selected player is then submitted to the league, verified for eligibility, and once approved is announced publicly. Expansion teams have up to two timeouts they can call during the draft, each lasting five minutes. The timeouts cannot be used in succession.
How many players can a team protect?
A team only has the ability to protect nine of their current players. A team is permitted to protect one additional player after the first expansion team selects a player from its roster.
U18 Players are not eligible to be selected in the expansion process, but they do not count against a team’s total of protected players.
Unsigned Unrestricted Free Agents and Restricted Free Agents are also not eligible to be selected in the expansion process. These players do not take a protected player spot.
Players with a ‘No Trade Clause’ in their contract are required to be protected, unless they elect to waive their clause.
What is draft protection?
Teams can trade for “draft protection” as an asset. Existing teams have the ability to trade any of their current assets to protect part or all of their current roster from selection by either or both teams participating in the expansion draft.
This allows existing teams to leverage player value, potentially getting more from the expansion team involved in exchange for a player, or other assets.
What has this looked like in the past?
Prior to the 2022 NWSL Expansion Draft, which saw the addition of Angel City and San Diego Wave FC, the North Carolina Courage traded Cari Roccaro to Angel City in exchange for full roster protection, and Angharad James to the Wave in exchange for full roster protection. The Chicago Red Stars traded Katie Johnson, Makenzy Doniak, and Kelsey Turnbow to the Wave in exchange for full roster protection and an unnamed sum of allocation money.
This option can allow teams to work with players who wish to leave and join the new markets, such as Johnson and Doniak, who are both from Southern California.
In Summary?
A 12-round expansion draft will allow the two NWSL expansion teams to build their rosters, with the opportunity to select as many as two players from each existing NWSL roster. Free Agents and minors are not eligible to be selected, nor the nine additional players designated by the team.
Teams can engage in trades to receive full roster protection from one or both expansion teams.
How to watch:
The 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft will air live on CBS Sports Network at 7 p.m. ET on December 15, 2023.
Any more questions?
Leave them in the comments!
You can also read the full expansion team player acquisition rules and procedures here.