NEW YORK — In what could be a turning point for gender pay in women’s sports, five members of the World Cup winning U.S. women’s soccer team announced Thursday that they had filed an official wage discrimination complaint, claiming they were paid “substantially less” than their male counterparts.
The players — Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo — claim that in spite of producing greater revenues, they were paid four times less than the men’s national team last year. They have taken their case to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
In July, POLITICO reported that in spite of their 5-2 win over Japan in the World Cup final, the pay for women’s professional soccer is a fraction of that in the men’s side. That game was the most-watched soccer match in U.S. history, dispelling the notion that the women’s game was failing to generate ample revenue or interest from fans. Several members of U.S. Congress wrote to executives at FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, taking issue with unequal payouts in the sport.
The United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) complaint puts further pressure on the embattled world of global soccer. FIFA has been plagued with charges of bribery, corruption and discrimination. In addition to comments from FIFA’s longtime head, Sepp Blatter, about women wearing “tighter shorts” to entice fans, the organization was in the cross-hairs last year for requiring women to compete on artificial turf, against the wishes of players, coaches and fans.
Nor is soccer the only sport that has found itself in the middle of debates around the payment of female athletes. Serena Williams made $10 million less in endorsement money than Maria Sharapova, even though the latter has long lagged behind Williams in the rankings. The pay gap between men’s and women’s teams in U.S. national basketball continues to be a sore point. In college sports, women struggle to get coaching gigs for women’s teams in the first place.
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The soccer players’ complaint also amplifies the long-tense relationship between athletes and their governing bodies, and sheds some light onto the balance sheet of American professional soccer. The five USWNT players cited the recent boom in revenues among their complaints, noting that the U.S. men’s team has long struggled in the rankings and, unlike the women’s team, will not compete at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio this summer.
The U.S. Soccer Federation’s most recent annual report had initially projected a $429,929 net loss for the national teams for the 2016 fiscal year. But “thanks almost exclusively” to the women’s team’s success, the documents said, the federation projects a profit of $17.7 million. The women’s team is anticipated to generate a net profit of $5 million, according to the complaint, compared with a net loss of nearly $1 million for the men’s team.
The pre-game, game and post-game duties, as well as the skill, effort, responsibilities and working conditions of the women’s team “are substantially the same and/or greater than those of the [men’s national team],” according to the documents. All told, the federation pays top female players “between 38 percent and 72 percent” of the compensation of the men’s national team players, per game.
The federation pays top female players “between 38 percent and 72 percent” of the compensation of the men’s national team players, per game.
The complaint also breaks down how the payments vary per athlete. The federation pays top female players $72,000 per year to play at least 20 friendlies a year, plus a bonus of $1,350 for each friendly won. (So if all 20 games are won, a female player receives $99,000 for the year, or $4,950 per game.)
However, for the men’s team, according to the documents, players receive a $5,000 minimum per game they play, regardless of whether it’s a win, loss or tie. Their per game income can range from $6,250 to $17,625 depending on the caliber of the opposing team. Therefore, a men’s national team player who loses every one of the 20 friendlies earns $100,000 — $27,000 more than a women’s national team player who is undefeated in 20 friendlies. Per diems for travel expenses and sponsor appearances are also addressed.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” Solo, a longtime member of the USWNT, said in a statement. “We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships and the USMNT get paid more just to show up than we get paid to win major championships.”
In recent months, the Women’s National Team Players Association and U.S. Soccer have been engaged in a fight over the collective bargaining agreement, which expired in 2012. U.S. Soccer sued the players’ association for not ruling out a strike. The new collective bargaining agreement had equal pay for equal work among its chief issues, the documents said.
After a complaint is filed, the EEOC will undertake an investigation, which is expected to take around six months.
Mary Pilon, formerly of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, is the author of “The Monopolists.”