Fight for Equality: The U.S. Soccer Federation’s Equal Pay Agreement


    In May 2022, the U.S. Soccer Federation announced a new deal to pay the U.S. Men’s National Team and the U.S. Women’s National Team equally. Over the course of 6 years, dozens of members of the U.S. Women’s National Team have legally fought U.S. Soccer for equal pay, becoming spokeswomen for not only athletes but all women in the U.S. The U.S. Women’s goalkeeper Hope Solo told a reporter, the men’s players “get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”

In 2016, the U.S. soccer’s pay gap became a widespread public controversy after the Women’s National Team won the World Cup in 2015. The women’s team was far more successful than the men’s, becoming the federation’s main economic engine despite only earning half as much as their male counterparts. After winning the 2015 World Cup, the women shared a bonus of $1.73 million, whereas when the men lost in the Round of 16 in the 2014 World Cup, they split $5.38 million in performance bonuses.

A new collective bargaining agreement will run through 2028, including the “equalization of World Cup prize money. Each team will be back paid $22 million. Each team has a collective bargaining agreement with “identical economic terms,” appearance fees, bonuses based on performance and opponent’s ranking will be the same for both teams. Additionally, the two teams will pool their prize money for their World Cup appearances and split the total evenly between the two teams and the federation. So far it is the only federation in the world to equalize World Cup prize money. The men’s and women’s teams will share the same framework for commercial and ticket revenue.  

Is this new agreement fair for both teams? What could be further tweaked about the agreement before a potential renewal in 2028? Will it be renewed beyond 2028?


Comments

  1. Eleni, Rachel, and CharlotteNovember 9, 2022 at 10:34 PM

    I think this is a fair agreement for both teams. A lot of people argue that men deserve more money because more people watch them play so they bring in more revenue. However, in terms of bonuses, I think the women deserve at least the same amount as the men for winning the entire world cup while the men were knocked out of the competition so early.

    Rachel Wun

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    1. John BrownNovember 11, 2022 at 4:48 AM

      I agree with your point. Yes there is a point to men receiving more money because they have more viewers which means they are generating more revenue, but they don't deserve more. Women deserve to earn the same bonuses as men as they clearly are dominant in their competition. If there was more money invested into women soccer, we would see an increase in competition at a younger age, so over time more viewers will flood into women soccer.

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    2. John BrownNovember 11, 2022 at 4:48 AM

      -Sam S

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  2. AndreNovember 10, 2022 at 12:01 AM

    I agree with the fact that the women want as much money as the men. I understand why the agreement was made and it clearly helps the women with their compensation. They are a lot better than the mens team, in terms of success in their respective gender divisions. The only thing that I would have to say that disagrees with this post is that how are they going to pay them. The men get more money because more people watch them and they bring in more money that way. The women do not bring in nearly as much so that is why they get payed less and I'm just confused why they do not understand why they are being payed less

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    Replies
    1. Pay DayNovember 11, 2022 at 4:13 AM

      Actually the U.S. women's soccer team has been generating more revenue than the U.S men's soccer team since 2016. In 2016, the women's games generated $50.8 million while the men's made $49.9 million. The ability to generate more revenue than the men's team was a key factor in winning the lawsuit filed against the USSF. The pay gap shows in the award money. If each team won each of the 20 tournament games they're contractually required to play in the women's team would make $4,950 per game whereas the men's team would make $13,166 per game.

      Marissa Weiss

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  3. Women in BusinessNovember 10, 2022 at 5:10 AM

    I think that it is fair for the U.S. women’s team to be paid equal to the men. There viewership is pretty similar, and each team brings in a similar revenue stream. Since there is not a large gap between these factors, and the women’s team had won more world cups in recent years, I think there should be equal pay for both teams.
    -McKenna

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  4. Women in BusinessNovember 10, 2022 at 5:11 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Women in BusinessNovember 10, 2022 at 5:20 AM

    I believe that equal prize money for both the men and women teams is fair because they all nearly put in the same amount of work. However, I agree with Andre in the fact that men teams bring in more money because they have a large fan base, so where would the money come from to pay women? The compensation would mean that women teams would need to bring in more sponsors of increase their fan base in order to increase their popularity.
    - Hannah Sullivan

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  6. Women in BusinessNovember 10, 2022 at 5:24 AM

    I agree that the equalization of the Olympic prize money is a fair idea because whatever team wins should be awarded the same amount. This issue outside of the Olympics is the inevitable difference in interest levels of certain sports. It would make sense that whatever clubs/leagues are racking up more revenue from their fanbase should receive higher pay. It then comes down to the question of how clubs/leagues could expand their fanbase and influence the interest of more people.
    - Kelly Greiner

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  7. Pete DeAngeloNovember 10, 2022 at 11:14 PM

    This business model is a large step in the right direction as far as the wage gap question is concerned. It's great to see these women fighting to be paid based on their performance on the field and getting the chance to be put on the pedestal equal to the mens team. That being said I don't see a world where this would be possible on a smaller scale on a club to club basis. They simply don't bring in the same level of viewers that the mens game does. In the money ball game that is owning a professional futbol club every dollar counts and needs to be allocated accordingly to continue the growth or popularity of the club. Simply splitting the mens and women's pay equally wont be sustainable.

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  8. Team 1November 11, 2022 at 6:16 AM

    It's good to see the US Women's team get the money they deserve, as they are far superior in comparison to the US Men's teams in terms of international performance. Women sports are clearly growing, as just last year FC Barcelona's women's team had the largest crowd to ever watch a women's match at 91,648 fans. It'll be great to see women sports gain more popularity, and I look forward to people showing more appreciation for female athletes.
    -Hunter

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  9. Eleni, Rachel, and CharlotteNovember 11, 2022 at 7:08 AM

    I think that this agreement to have the same pay is a great step in the right direction for closing the wage gap. I think that other federations will follow suit in the world but I do not expect that this will work for every club, every sport, and country. I think that the women and men being paid the same amount based on their performance is very important.
    -Eleni Kollias

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