Jeff Kassouf breaks down Catarina Macario's record-setting move to San Diego and what it means for the NWSL. (1:05)
The NWSL's first transfer window to include the league's new "Rodman Rule" closed with a bang on Monday.
U.S. women's national team forward Catarina Macario has joined the San Diego Wave, sources confirmed to ESPN, on a deal through 2030 that is worth around $8 million and believed to be the largest cumulative contract in women's soccer. The Wave will utilize the NWSL's new rule to pay Macario.
The High Impact Player rule has been dubbed the "Rodman rule" because it was prompted in December to ensure that Trinity Rodman stayed with the Washington Spirit. Rodman is being paid over $2 million annually all-in, sources confirmed, making her the highest paid player globally on an annual basis.
Those two signings -- Macario and Rodman -- highlight a typically chaotic and busy offseason for the NWSL, especially when it comes to USWNT players on the move. (Rodman didn't actually go anywhere, but her contract saga was the story of the offseason.)
Which USWNT players and which teams made big moves and splashy deals? Let's get to the report cards!
Note: All figures are sourced from ESPN's reporting, except for those that have been confirmed by teams.
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ESPN reported last month that the Wave were closing in on signing Macario, likely for the summer on a free transfer, but getting the deal done now for $300,000 is good business for a Wave team that needs a No. 9 to consistently carry the scoring load. Look no further than their opening-weekend loss to the Houston Dash, in which San Diego controlled the midfield and generated ample opportunities, only to get shut out. (Sound like 2025 much?)
The $300,000 is worth paying to get Macario a couple months early, and the $8 million compensation package is spread out enough that, with the new HIP rule, the annual cap hit should be manageable.
For Macario, how could she go wrong here? San Diego is her home after moving there from Brazil as a 12-year-old in 2011, and the Wave train adjacent to the fields of Macario's youth club, San Diego Surf. ESPN previously reported that a desire to return home played a major role in Macario's decision.
Macario left Stanford after an illustrious college career to sign her first professional deal with Lyon in 2021, and then moved to Chelsea in 2023. She returns to San Diego looking to stay healthy and productive ahead of what could be a major role for her with the USWNT at the 2027 World Cup, in her native Brazil.
Rodman and the Spirit collectively pushed the NWSL to get done what needed doing: a better way to pay star players. That goes down as a major win for the player and the club, and also marks an inflection point for the NWSL.
Whatever happens to the HIP rule in arbitration -- the NWSL Players Association has challenged the qualifying criteria as a violation of the CBA -- there will be an NWSL before and after the Rodman deal. Macario's lucrative contract is further proof.
Rodman always wanted to stay with the Spirit; she just wanted to be paid her worth. She got that with a record deal. Now Rodman remains in the position to be the star player for a team and a key contributor, which wouldn't have been a guarantee had she moved abroad.
Washington also managed to make the massive contract work in a way that doesn't obliterate their salary cap thanks to the accounting wizardry of new president of soccer operations Haley Carter. Cliché as it may be, this was a win-win-win.
Washington Spirit and USWNT star Trinity Rodman joins "The Pat McAfee Show" to discuss her record contract and the future of women's soccer in the U.S.
You really can't write the script any better for Heaps, who grew up just outside of Denver and still has a residence there. She left home as an 18-year-old in 2012 to turn professional, the first American woman to take that path straight out of high school, over a decade before it became the norm.
She spent most of her career in France, with a successful MVP-level stint with the Portland Thorns in between, and now she will come home this summer as a 32-year-old leading her new, ambitious hometown club.
The move is a no-brainer for Denver from a business perspective. Heaps is the USWNT captain with name value -- especially locally. On the field, she is also a player that the Summit can build around, and she will bring much-needed leadership to the expansion team navigating the league for the first time.
The catch, of course, is that Heaps won't arrive until summer, which could make for a more difficult integration, but this is clearly a bigger picture move for Denver and Heaps.
The payoff should come in 2027, Heaps' first full season with the team (and, notably, fellow Colorado native Sophia Wilson will once again be a free agent later this year).
Hutton became an overnight star as a teenager in Kansas City -- the best teen in the NWSL, in our humble opinions -- and it catapulted her into the USWNT picture. At this point, she's sure to be on the World Cup roster, and will likely challenge for a starting role.
Credit for that progress first and foremost goes to the mature-beyond-her-years Hutton, and those first two years of development that came under Vlatko Andonovski. (Hutton, who grew up in Albany, NY, turned pro with Kansas City after training with Gotham FC.)
Hutton really had a good thing going, including legitimate championship contention, in Kansas City. But Andonovski is the sporting director now, and things have changed.
Hutton's growing stardom attracted offseason attention from suitors both domestic and abroad, and her regular minutes with the USWNT in 2025 made her eligible for the HIP rule, giving her plenty of potentially lucrative options. Her previous contract was also up at the end of 2026. A move from Kansas City felt inevitable.
At Bay, she will also be thrust into more of a leadership role, which could help her internationally. Bay FC has been desperate for direction on the field since the team launched in 2024, and the team has been in particular need of a midfield general that can help them dictate games.
Going out and getting Hutton perfectly fills a major need and, crucially, it signals intent and ambition that could have a knock-on effect for future signings. For Bay, this was a pay-whatever-they-are-asking transfer, and they got it done.
Bethune, the 2024 NWSL Rookie of the Year, moving on from the Spirit -- and at her request -- came as a surprise. She was an integral part of the Spirit's back-to-back runners-up finishes (even despite an injury as a rookie) and looked like she would be a key ingredient to another run at the title this year alongside Rodman.
Bethune, however, said repeatedly upon her arrival in Kansas City that she felt she needed to make a move for the development of her own career. A goal in her Kansas City debut in Saturday's season-opener was certainly a sweet form of early returns on the move.
For Kansas City, Bethune can be a long-term option that adds creative flair to their midfield. There is some concern about Bethune and Debinha occupying similar spaces on the field, but those are champagne problems, and 34-year-old Debinha won't be around forever (or maybe she will, if Marta is an indication).
In a vacuum, Bethune is a great addition for the Current. In the context of losing Hutton in a deal announced simultaneously, the Current's dominant midfield has some questions around it now as a collective. There's no denying that it was some shrewd business for the Current from a cash perspective: They lost Hutton and gained Bethune for a net positive of $100,000.
Gaetino is an up-and-coming USWNT defender who had been playing with PSG since turning professional in early 2024. Her return stateside is perfectly timed to coincide with the launch of a new team and to put her in a competitive environment weekly in front of the eyeballs of USWNT coach Emma Hayes.
In Denver, Gaetino will be paired with veteran NWSL center-back Kaleigh Kurtz, which makes for a great apprenticeship for Gaetino's entry into the league.
For Denver, Gaetino can be a building block for the future on the back line as she arrives on a three-year deal. Gaetino brings U.S. national team experience, which Denver has clearly shaped its roster around, while adding years of European experience to her belt. Add that to another big addition of a rising USWNT fullback -- Ayo Oke, who ESPN previously reported arrived via a $450,000 transfer from Pachuca -- and Denver is in strong shape out of the gate as an expansion team.
Sam Coffey's offseason move from the Portland Thorns to Manchester City was a year in the making, driven by Coffey's desire to round out her game in and experience England. Coffey, already a starting midfielder for the USWNT and a top NWSL midfielder, will now push herself beyond her comfort zone in Manchester.
In that context, the Thorns were in a tough spot. Blocking the move was not logically an option, and losing their captain -- the soul of the team -- was always going to leave an irreplaceable hole. That effectively left them stuck trying to get the best possible fee for Coffey, and they did alright there.
As seven-figure transfers start to become more regular, it's easy to question why this fee wasn't higher, but consider that Coffey is a defensive midfielder -- hardly the glorious goal-scoring forward more likely to command a big fee -- and it is still a top-10 global transfer.
The real problem for the Thorns is that they had enough time to plan for Coffey's departure -- just as they had time to hire a coach quicker than they did -- but a solution is still a work in progress. In the interim, Coffey's absence will be felt.
