Topline
The U.S. Soccer Federation has reached new historic collective bargaining agreements to ensure equal pay and prize money for its men’s and women’s national teams, it said Wednesday morning, following a years-long battle fought by the four-time World Cup-champion women’s national team to guarantee equal compensation.
Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Allie Long celebrate during the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team ... [+]
Key Facts
The two collective bargaining agreements—which last through 2028—include identical pay for all international soccer competitions, including the FIFA World Cup.
U.S. Soccer will become the first national governing body to ensure equal prize money from FIFA by pooling prize funds and splitting them equally among the men and women’s national teams beginning with the 2022 Men’s tournament and the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Men’s and women’s national team players will also earn identical game bonuses, the federation said.
The deals come three months after U.S. Soccer settled a lawsuit filed by members of the women’s national team that included a $24 million payout as well as a pledge from the federation to equalize pay between the men’s and women’s national teams.
U.S. Soccer will also ensure an equal division of broadcast, partner and sponsorship revenue as well as profits from tickets sold at home matches, it said.
Becky Sauerbrunn, president of the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association and a U.S. women’s national team player, called the new deals “a testament to the incredible efforts” of the women’s national team players “on and off the field.”
Crucial Quote
“This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world,” said Cindy Parlow Cone, U.S. Soccer’s president and a former U.S. women’s player.
Big Number
$34 million. That’s how much more money FIFA paid France’s male team—which took home $38 million for winning the 2018 World Cup—than it gave the U.S. women’s team after it won the 2019 World Cup. The U.S. Women's National Team also earned significantly less than the Men’s National Team during World Cup qualifiers, when each male player could earn up to $18,125 in the final round for each win, but each female player could receive only $3,000 for each win, according to ESPN.
Key Background
The new agreements come after years of pressure from the women’s national soccer team, including legal battles as well as public interviews, to ensure female soccer players receive the same compensation as men. The women’s team has argued it was paid less than the men’s national team despite winning two consecutive World Cup championships in 2015 and 2019, while the men’s team failed to qualify for the 2018 tournament. Retired women’s national team players Hope Solo and Carli Lloyd along with Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2016, alleging U.S. Soccer paid the World Cup champions much less than their male counterparts. After the complaint failed to lead to larger steps toward equal pay, in March 2019, 28 members of the U.S. women’s national team sued U.S. Soccer over pay equity and working conditions. In February, U.S. Soccer reached a settlement in which it agreed to pay $24 million to the female players and pledged to ensure equal pay for men and women in the future. The deal was contingent upon signing a new collective bargaining agreement with the women’s team, which, now complete, means the settlement can be finalized.
Further Reading
U.S. Women’s and Men’s Soccer Teams Will Receive Equal Pay Under New Labor Deals (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. Soccer and Top Players Agree to Guarantee Equal Pay (New York Times)
How U.S. Soccer and Its Players Got to Equal Pay: a Timeline (New York Times)
