San Diego Wave FC announced Thursday that the club has signed University of Texas forward Trinity Byars, making Byars the first active NCAA athlete to sign with an NWSL team since the league’s recent elimination of the draft.
Byars, a senior at the University of Texas, signed with San Diego Wave through the 2026 season with a mutual option for 2027. The transaction was made before the Oct. 10 roster freeze.
The NWSL and NWSL Players Association ratified a new collective bargaining agreement this summer that eliminated all forms of player drafts and granted players full free agency, meaning this offseason marks the first in the league’s history that college and youth players are free to sign directly with teams of their choice.
In a shift toward competing with global leagues, the NWSL became the first U.S. league to voluntarily remove the draft mechanism.
