May 18 – In a historic moment, US Soccer and its national teams agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that will for the first time guarantee equal pay between men’s and women’s teams for games and equal division of World Cup prize money.
The American governing body announced the news on Wednesday, bringing to a close a long and often fraught battle between the national women’s team and the ruling body, which included a gender discrimination lawsuit that ended in a $24 million settlement earlier this year.
The settlement was an admission that US Soccer had not paid its women’s national team equally, but the governing body has now committed to equal pay after lengthy negotiations.
The CBA runs until 2028 and ends guaranteed salaries for the women’s players and instead pays them at the same rates as the men for achievements. It will also ensure equal conditions in terms of playing venues, staffing, charter flights and hotel accommodations.
The CBA is remarkable in that it will level World Cup bonuses. The US men’s national team and women’s national team will pool the World Cup bonuses received from FIFA and split them equally. The money from this year’s World Cup in Qatar and next year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will be shared equally. It is something no other country has done, said US Soccer president Parlow Cone.
She said that “I think everyone should be really proud of what we’ve accomplished here. It really, truly is historic.”
The winner of this year’s World Cup will receive $42 million of FIFA’s $440 total prize money. If the US advance to the round of 16, the team will receive $13 million. That’s a fraction of what their female counterparts would get if they triumph next year. The overall proposed prize money for the Women’s World Cup stands at $60 million.
“The collaboration was truly incredible,” said Cone. “There were hard conversations and challenging times and, yes, there were moments I thought it was all going to fall apart. But I am really proud of where we’ve landed, proud of the men’s team for what they’ve done, proud of the women’s players who continue to carry the torch for all women.”
“There’s no denying that money that we have to pay our national teams is money that’s not reinvested in the game,” admitted Cone. “And people can take that perspective. But the way I look at it is that our job is to try to figure out how all three groups can work together to grow the pie so that everyone is benefiting.”
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