'Historic' equal pay deal for US men's and women's football teams
The US men's and women's national soccer teams will receive equal pay under a "historic" agreement announced by the US Soccer Federation on Wednesday, following years of pressure from female players
The US men's and women's national soccer teams will receive equal pay under a "historic" agreement announced by the US Soccer Federation on Wednesday, following years of pressure from female players
.
'Achieved it'
The agreement, which runs through 2028, also aims to improve "player health and safety, data privacy and the need to balance responsibilities to both club and country," USSF said.
Women's star Megan Rapinoe, who has forged a reputation as an unflinching advocate for social justice causes including equal pay and conditions for her and team-mates, said in February that the settlement marked a moment in which "US Soccer changed for the better."
Center-back Walker Zimmerman, a member of the men's team players association, welcomed Wednesday's deal saying that "we hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change."
"They said equal pay for men and women was not possible, but that did not stop us and we went ahead and achieved it," he added.
The United States women have won four Women's World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. They are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Women's World Cup crown after hoisting trophies in 2015 at Canada and 2019 in France. They last won Olympic gold in London in 2012.
(AFP)
© Tiziana Fabi, AFP
The move makes the federation the first in the world to equalize World Cup prize money awarded to its men's and women's teams.
"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 US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone.
The terms of Wednesday's landmark agreement include "identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams," USSF said.
The deal stipulates that players from both teams "pool and share" the otherwise unequal prize money paid by FIFA for participation in their respective World Cups.
For non-World Cup tournaments, players from "both teams will earn an equal amount of the total prize money paid when both teams participate in the same competition."
In February, the US national women's team won a $24 million payout and a promise of equal pay in a najor settlement with US Soccer, that was contingent on the new collective bargaining agreement.
The question of World Cup prize money had formed a prominent part of the lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 and accused the federation of "stubbornly refusing" to pay its men and women's players equally.
"The accomplishments in this CBA (collective bargaining agreement) are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field," said US women's captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who is also her team's players association president.
She added that she hoped the agreement "will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women's soccer both in the United States and abroad."
The move makes the federation the first in the world to equalize World Cup prize money awarded to its men's and women's teams.
"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 US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone.
The terms of Wednesday's landmark agreement include "identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams," USSF said.
The deal stipulates that players from both teams "pool and share" the otherwise unequal prize money paid by FIFA for participation in their respective World Cups.
For non-World Cup tournaments, players from "both teams will earn an equal amount of the total prize money paid when both teams participate in the same competition."
In February, the US national women's team won a $24 million payout and a promise of equal pay in a najor settlement with US Soccer, that was contingent on the new collective bargaining agreement.
The question of World Cup prize money had formed a prominent part of the lawsuit, which was filed in 2019 and accused the federation of "stubbornly refusing" to pay its men and women's players equally.
"The accomplishments in this CBA (collective bargaining agreement) are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field," said US women's captain Becky Sauerbrunn, who is also her team's players association president.
She added that she hoped the agreement "will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women's soccer both in the United States and abroad."
'Achieved it'
The agreement, which runs through 2028, also aims to improve "player health and safety, data privacy and the need to balance responsibilities to both club and country," USSF said.
Women's star Megan Rapinoe, who has forged a reputation as an unflinching advocate for social justice causes including equal pay and conditions for her and team-mates, said in February that the settlement marked a moment in which "US Soccer changed for the better."
Center-back Walker Zimmerman, a member of the men's team players association, welcomed Wednesday's deal saying that "we hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change."
"They said equal pay for men and women was not possible, but that did not stop us and we went ahead and achieved it," he added.
The United States women have won four Women's World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. They are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Women's World Cup crown after hoisting trophies in 2015 at Canada and 2019 in France. They last won Olympic gold in London in 2012.
(AFP)
Soccer: U.S. women, men to pool World Cup money, get equal pay
The U.S. Women's National Team and U.S. Men's National Team will receive identical compensation for all competitions as part of new collective bargaining agreements with the U.S. Soccer Federation. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo
May 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. men's and women's national teams will receive equal pay and prize money as part of a new collective bargaining agreement, the United States Soccer Federation announced Wednesday.
"This is a truly historic moment," federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a news release. "These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.
"U.S. Soccer and the USWNT and USMNT players have reset their relationship with these new agreements and are leading us forward to an incredibly exciting new phase of mutual growth and collaboration as we continue our mission to become the pre-eminent sport in the United States."
The move follows years of legal battles between the federation and more than two dozen members of the women's national team. U.S. Soccer is the first federation to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money.
RELATED U.S. Soccer, members of women's team settle equal pay lawsuit for $24 million
"The accomplishments in this CBA are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field," women's team defender and players union President Becky Sauerbrunn said.
"The gains we have been able to achieve are both because of the strong foundation laid by the generations of women's team players that came before the current team and through our union's recent collaboration with our counterparts at the USNSTPA and leadership at U.S. Soccer."
The men's and women's respective labor deals each run through 2028. They include identical economic compensation for roster appearances and performances in all competitions, based on the outcome of the match and rank of opponent.
For the World Cup, the parties agreed to pool and share a portion of prize money paid for the teams' participation in the 2022 men's competitions and the 2023 women's competitions.
Players on those rosters will be paid an equal percentage of the collective prize money, which is provided globally by FIFA in uneven sums. The men's and women's teams will do that same thing for the 2026 Men's World Cup and 2027 Women's World Cup.
The federation also agreed to provide equal quality of venues and field playing surfaces and "comparable budgets" for hotel accommodations for matches and camps for both teams. The teams also will be provided with an equal number of chartered flights during national team camps for travel to competitions.
The decision to provide equal pay comes three months after women's team players settled their gender discrimination lawsuit against the federation.
As part of that settlement, the federation agreed to pay $22 million to the 28 women's players who filed the suit and $2 million to create a fund for women's and girl's soccer programs.
Women's players asked for $67 million in their 2019 lawsuit, which reached class-action status. Judge R. Gary Klausner issued a partial summary judgment, which dismissed most of the players' claims, in May 2020 at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Pasadena.
"We hope that this agreement and its historic achievements in not only providing for equal pay, but also in improving the training and playing environment for national team players will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women's soccer both in the United States and abroad," Sauerbrunn said.
The U.S. men's team will face Morocco in a friendly on June 1 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. The men's team will start group play at the 2022 World Cup at 2 p.m. EST Nov. 21 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. The Men's World Cup final will be Dec. 18 at Lusail Stadium in Doha.
The women's team will face Colombia in a friendly at 7:30 p.m. EDT June 25 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
The U.S. Women's National Team and U.S. Men's National Team will receive identical compensation for all competitions as part of new collective bargaining agreements with the U.S. Soccer Federation. File Photo by David Silpa/UPI | License Photo
May 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. men's and women's national teams will receive equal pay and prize money as part of a new collective bargaining agreement, the United States Soccer Federation announced Wednesday.
"This is a truly historic moment," federation President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a news release. "These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.
"U.S. Soccer and the USWNT and USMNT players have reset their relationship with these new agreements and are leading us forward to an incredibly exciting new phase of mutual growth and collaboration as we continue our mission to become the pre-eminent sport in the United States."
The move follows years of legal battles between the federation and more than two dozen members of the women's national team. U.S. Soccer is the first federation to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money.
RELATED U.S. Soccer, members of women's team settle equal pay lawsuit for $24 million
"The accomplishments in this CBA are a testament to the incredible efforts of WNT players on and off the field," women's team defender and players union President Becky Sauerbrunn said.
"The gains we have been able to achieve are both because of the strong foundation laid by the generations of women's team players that came before the current team and through our union's recent collaboration with our counterparts at the USNSTPA and leadership at U.S. Soccer."
The men's and women's respective labor deals each run through 2028. They include identical economic compensation for roster appearances and performances in all competitions, based on the outcome of the match and rank of opponent.
For the World Cup, the parties agreed to pool and share a portion of prize money paid for the teams' participation in the 2022 men's competitions and the 2023 women's competitions.
Players on those rosters will be paid an equal percentage of the collective prize money, which is provided globally by FIFA in uneven sums. The men's and women's teams will do that same thing for the 2026 Men's World Cup and 2027 Women's World Cup.
The federation also agreed to provide equal quality of venues and field playing surfaces and "comparable budgets" for hotel accommodations for matches and camps for both teams. The teams also will be provided with an equal number of chartered flights during national team camps for travel to competitions.
The decision to provide equal pay comes three months after women's team players settled their gender discrimination lawsuit against the federation.
As part of that settlement, the federation agreed to pay $22 million to the 28 women's players who filed the suit and $2 million to create a fund for women's and girl's soccer programs.
Women's players asked for $67 million in their 2019 lawsuit, which reached class-action status. Judge R. Gary Klausner issued a partial summary judgment, which dismissed most of the players' claims, in May 2020 at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Pasadena.
"We hope that this agreement and its historic achievements in not only providing for equal pay, but also in improving the training and playing environment for national team players will similarly serve as the foundation for continued growth of women's soccer both in the United States and abroad," Sauerbrunn said.
The U.S. men's team will face Morocco in a friendly on June 1 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati. The men's team will start group play at the 2022 World Cup at 2 p.m. EST Nov. 21 at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar. The Men's World Cup final will be Dec. 18 at Lusail Stadium in Doha.
The women's team will face Colombia in a friendly at 7:30 p.m. EDT June 25 at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colo.
Spain's Irene Paredes (left) shakes hands with USWNT star Megan Rapinoe
ahead of their 2019 World Cup match.
Robert Cianflone/Getty Images
Meredith Cash
Wed, May 18, 2022,
The USWNT agreed to a historic deal that secures a pay structure that is identical to what applies to the men's team.
The agreement with US Soccer equalizes World Cup prize money between the men's and women's teams.
The deal is already inspiring female players from other countries to fight for fair wages of their own.
After years of fighting its own federation for fair wages, the US Women's National Soccer Team has finally secured equal pay.
US Soccer announced Wednesday that its men's and women's national teams had agreed to identical Collective Bargaining Agreements, that equalized pay and resources afforded to the men's and women's squads. Perhaps most notably, the deal evenly splits World Cup prize money between the two national teams.
Meredith Cash
Wed, May 18, 2022,
The USWNT agreed to a historic deal that secures a pay structure that is identical to what applies to the men's team.
The agreement with US Soccer equalizes World Cup prize money between the men's and women's teams.
The deal is already inspiring female players from other countries to fight for fair wages of their own.
After years of fighting its own federation for fair wages, the US Women's National Soccer Team has finally secured equal pay.
US Soccer announced Wednesday that its men's and women's national teams had agreed to identical Collective Bargaining Agreements, that equalized pay and resources afforded to the men's and women's squads. Perhaps most notably, the deal evenly splits World Cup prize money between the two national teams.
US Women's National Team players celebrate their 2019 World Cup victory.
AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
No other country's soccer federation has ever taken the revolutionary step to pool FIFA prize money, which is significantly higher on the men's side.
"I think this is going to have international ramifications in sport in general," US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone told TODAY. "And hopefully into the business world as well."
In fact, it already has.
Moments after news of the agreement became public, FC Barcelona superstar and Spain women's national team captain Irene Paredes told Insider that the USWNT's successful fight for equal pay inspires her, and likely other women's players across the globe, to "fight for" fair wages and resources of their own.
No other country's soccer federation has ever taken the revolutionary step to pool FIFA prize money, which is significantly higher on the men's side.
"I think this is going to have international ramifications in sport in general," US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone told TODAY. "And hopefully into the business world as well."
In fact, it already has.
Moments after news of the agreement became public, FC Barcelona superstar and Spain women's national team captain Irene Paredes told Insider that the USWNT's successful fight for equal pay inspires her, and likely other women's players across the globe, to "fight for" fair wages and resources of their own.
Paredes battles USWNT star forward Alex Morgan for the ball.
Michael Chow-USA TODAY Sports
"Now there's a reason and someone who is doing it, so we have to fight for that," Paredes said. "I think that for playing with your national team, you can't make a difference between a man and a woman. Of course there are a lot of things of filling the stadium or not, or selling T-shirts or not, but because of the fact of wearing the same T-shirt, it should be the same."
"I just say congrats," she added. "And I hope that the rest of the national teams can reach that."
The heart of soccer's pay disparity issues lies with FIFA, which offers a considerably larger prize pool for the men's World Cup than for the women's. At this year's men's World Cup in Qatar, the 32 teams vying for soccer's most prestigious trophy will also compete for a share of the $400 million pot, according to The Guardian.
In the women's tournament, which will take place in Australia and New Zealand the following year, the same number of teams will compete for $60 million total.
"Now there's a reason and someone who is doing it, so we have to fight for that," Paredes said. "I think that for playing with your national team, you can't make a difference between a man and a woman. Of course there are a lot of things of filling the stadium or not, or selling T-shirts or not, but because of the fact of wearing the same T-shirt, it should be the same."
"I just say congrats," she added. "And I hope that the rest of the national teams can reach that."
The heart of soccer's pay disparity issues lies with FIFA, which offers a considerably larger prize pool for the men's World Cup than for the women's. At this year's men's World Cup in Qatar, the 32 teams vying for soccer's most prestigious trophy will also compete for a share of the $400 million pot, according to The Guardian.
In the women's tournament, which will take place in Australia and New Zealand the following year, the same number of teams will compete for $60 million total.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino
.REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach
In 2016, FIFA President Gianni Infantino told Sports Illustrated that the stature of "women's football in the US is not yet comparable to what women's football should be around the world." He says that the vast divide justifies the disparity between the men's and women's World Cup prize pools.
"So what our task must be is to develop women's football, to invest much more," Infantino added. "Of course the adjustment of the prize money goes with that as well."
But Walker Zimmerman, a defender for the USMNT and a member of the players' association leadership group, challenged the notion that "equal pay for men and women was not possible."
In 2016, FIFA President Gianni Infantino told Sports Illustrated that the stature of "women's football in the US is not yet comparable to what women's football should be around the world." He says that the vast divide justifies the disparity between the men's and women's World Cup prize pools.
"So what our task must be is to develop women's football, to invest much more," Infantino added. "Of course the adjustment of the prize money goes with that as well."
But Walker Zimmerman, a defender for the USMNT and a member of the players' association leadership group, challenged the notion that "equal pay for men and women was not possible."
USMNT defender Walker Zimmerman.
AP Photo/Julio Cortez
"That did not stop us, and we went ahead and achieved it," he added via US Soccer's announcement. "We hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change, and will inspire FIFA and others around the world to move in the same direction."
"That did not stop us, and we went ahead and achieved it," he added via US Soccer's announcement. "We hope this will awaken others to the need for this type of change, and will inspire FIFA and others around the world to move in the same direction."
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