{"id":228164,"date":"2026-02-11T22:47:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/big-money-for-bethune-and-hutton-proves-nwsl-is-in-a-new-era-equalizer-soccer\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T22:47:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T22:47:41","slug":"big-money-for-bethune-and-hutton-proves-nwsl-is-in-a-new-era-equalizer-soccer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/11\/big-money-for-bethune-and-hutton-proves-nwsl-is-in-a-new-era-equalizer-soccer\/","title":{"rendered":"Big money for Bethune and Hutton proves NWSL is in a new era \u2013 Equalizer Soccer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"mvp-content-main\" itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<div id=\"mvp-post-feat-img\" class=\"left relative\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/USATSI_24479984-1000x600.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"1000\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"600\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-post-feat-img--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"mvp-feat-caption\">Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Two of the NWSL\u2019s brightest young stars are on the move \u2014 for huge price tags. Croix Bethune will depart the Washington Spirit and is en route to the Kansas City Current. Claire Hutton will join Bay FC from the Current.\u00a0 The scale of this blockbuster deal is unprecedented in NWSL history. Three teams are involved (the trades were announced seperately), as the Washington Spirit will send Croix Bethune to Kansas City Current for $1.1 million. Claire Hutton is headed to Bay FC who will reportedly send $1 million to the Spirit. The age and profiles of both players also enhances the magnitude of the news. Prior to Wednesday\u2019s deal, both had one additional year on their rookie contracts.\u00a0 Through just two seasons, Bethune and Hutton had become bedrock players for their former NWSL teams, so the shock of the deal is well-warranted. Both young midfielders are in contention to lock down spots on the United States Women\u2019s National Team for years to come.<\/p>\n<div class=\"equalizer-paywall\">\n<div class=\"paywall-block\">\n<p>\n      Access the best women\u2019s soccer coverage all year long\n  <\/p>\n<p>\n     Start your FREE, 7-day trial of The Equalizer Extra for industry-leading reporting and insight on the USWNT, NWSL and beyond.\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 --><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--mvp-post-tags--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!--posts-nav-link--><\/p>\n<div class=\"mvp-org-wrap\" itemprop=\"publisher\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/Organization\">\n<div class=\"mvp-org-logo\" itemprop=\"logo\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/equalizerWhite-1.png\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-logo--><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<meta itemprop=\"name\" content=\"Equalizer Soccer\"\/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><!--mvp-org-wrap-->\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/equalizersoccer.com\/2026\/02\/11\/big-money-for-bethune-and-hutton-proves-nwsl-is-in-a-new-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Credit: Eakin Howard-Imagn Images Two of the NWSL\u2019s brightest young stars are on the move \u2014 for huge price tags. Croix Bethune will depart the Washington Spirit and is en route to the Kansas City Current. Claire Hutton will join Bay FC from the Current.\u00a0 The scale of this blockbuster deal is unprecedented in NWSL [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":228165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-228164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}