Five women’s soccer players, including Orlando Pride’s Alex Morgan, accused the U.S. Soccer Federation of wage discrimination.
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Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn claim they’re paid roughly four times less than their national male counterparts.
Last summer, after their World Cup win, members of the USA women’s national soccer team made it very clear they weren’t happy with the pay disparity between the men’s and women’s squads.
The top players on the women’s team are paid about $72,000 a year by U.S. Soccer, along with bonuses, to play in a minimum of 20 exhibitions per year, the EEOC complaint says. The women’s team reportedly generated almost $20 million more revenue past year than the men’s team, but the women are paid about four times less.
In bonus money, the women can earn about $75,000 at the World Cup, while men can earn nearly $400,000. In 2015, a record 26.7 million people tuned in to watch the women’s team triumph over Japan to win the World Cup.
American women’s football has dominated the global game in recent decades, with a string of titles. The reality is that this team is more valuable to the USSF than the mens team has been.
The US Women’s World Cup Soccer Team accuses the US Soccer Federation of discrimination. A consent agreement could include back pay and ensure an end to the pay imbalance between the men’s and women’s teams, according to Kessler.
The women’s team won the 2015 World Cup, while the men’s squad’s recent greatest achievement was a quarterfinal appearance at the 2002 World Cup.
The U.S. Women’s team will be on the national stage once again in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“We continue to be told we should be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional soccer and to get paid for doing it”, said Solo on the “Today” show Thursday morning.
“We have been quite patient over the years with the belief that the federation would do the right thing and compensate us fairly”, Lloyd said in the statement. In fact, while the EEOC goes about its business, U.S. Soccer could show even more leadership by truly working to get to the bottom of the perennial conflict with the women’s team. If the suit is successful, Garelick hopes it will lead to equal pay for generations of soccer players to come.
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“The women of the national team are disappointed that they have to resort to legal action to force the USSF – kicking and screaming – to comply with a legal obligation that they have to provide equal pay for equal play”, Kessler said. We want to have decent travel accommodations.
