Maria Sanchez re-signs with Houston Dash in record-breaking $1.5 million deal as NWSL's highest-paid player

The Mexico international has been with the Dash since 2021

Forward Maria Sanchez became the NWSL's highest-paid player on Monday after signing a new deal with the Houston Dash, the team she has been with since 2021.

The Mexico international will now make nearly $1.5 million over the next four years according to the Wall Street Journal, should she take up the option year that would keep her in Houston through the 2027 season. Her salary surpasses the $1.1 million deal Trinity Rodman signed with the Washington Spirit in 2022.

Sanchez was available as a free agent this offseason, but opted to stay with the team. It marks a clear sign of ambition from the Dash, which underwent an ownership change in August 2022 when real estate tycoon Ted Segal acquired a majority stake in MLS' Houston Dynamo, the Dash's parent club. The NWSL side has frequently been on the outside looking in as it pertains to the playoffs, but won the inaugural Challenge Cup in 2020 during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic and made their first playoff appearance last year.

Sign of the times

Sanchez's new deal is quite a change from the checks she earned during her rookie NWSL season in 2019, when she was drafted by the Chicago Red Stars. She made $14,584 that year, which was below the league's minimum salary at the time because she signed her contract after preseason. It's a transformative reward for the Idaho-born player after her unconventional path to the top of the NWSL's salary list -- she did not play for a youth club because of her parents' financial constraints and spent time in Liga MX to earn playing time before returning to the NWSL.

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Her contract is also a symbol of the league's rapid financial transformation. The NWSL's first collective bargaining agreement, signed in 2022, saw minimum salaries jump roughly 60% from $22,000 in 2021 to $35,000 in 2022. That figure rose slightly this year to $36,400 and will grow again to $37,856 in 2024. The record investment in player salaries across the board has also allowed some of the league's top players to sign record-breaking deals -- Rodman signed her deal soon after biotech mogul Michele Kang took control of the Spirit, and Sanchez's contract shows that the league continues to land high-spending owners.

With a free agency window that includes sought-after talent like U.S. women's national team stars Crystal Dunn and Rose Lavelle, some of the NWSL's other top talents might join Sanchez this offseason with notable new deals.