The US Football Team Reach An Agreement With The Sport’s American Governing Body After A Six-Year Battle Over Equal Pay

The women’s football team in the United States finally reached an agreement with the governing body for the sport, after having fought for equal pay for six years; the deal between them promises the players a settlement of $24 million plus bonuses matching that of the men’s US team. This announcement came on Tuesday from both the US women’s football team and the sport’s governing body.

The women players have decided to split the $22 million between themselves, “about one-third of what they had sought in damages”; the US Football team has agreed to establish 2$ million that is left to benefit players in their post-football careers and “charitable efforts aimed at supporting the sport for women”.

The US football said they are committed to providing an equal rate of pay for both the women’s and men’s national teams, including World Cup bonuses “subject to collective bargaining agreements with the unions that separately represent the women and men”.

USA midfielder Megan Rapinoe said, “For our generation, knowing that we’re going to leave the game in an exponentially better place than when we found it is everything. That’s what it’s all about because, to be honest, there is no justice in all of this if we don’t make sure it never happens again.”

US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said, “This is just one step towards rebuilding the relationship with the women’s team. I think this is a great accomplishment and I’m excited about the future and working together with them. Now we can shift the focus to other things, most importantly, growing the game at all levels and increasing opportunities for girls and women.”

The two parties in agreement released a joint statement:

“We are pleased to announce that, contingent on the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement, we will have resolved our longstanding dispute over equal pay and proudly stand together in a shared commitment to advancing equality in soccer. Getting to this day has not been easy. The U.S. Women’s National Team players have achieved unprecedented success while working to achieve equal pay for themselves and future athletes. Today, we recognize the legacy of the past USWNT leaders who helped to make this day possible, as well as all of the women and girls who will follow. Together, we dedicate this moment to them. We look forward to continuing to work together to grow women’s soccer and advance opportunities for young girls and women in the United States and across the globe.”

Team player Megan Rapinoe reacted to the news on CBS Mornings and shared, “It’s a little bit surreal to be honest. Obviously, we’ve been in this for a long time and coming from a long history of women that have fought to put this sport in a better place. I’m just incredibly proud of the women on this team and all the women who this lawsuit represents, our greater extended team, lawyers, strategists and media people that helped us. Everybody’s been in our corner the entire time. I think the thing that I look forward to and I’m really proud of is that the justice comes in the next generation never having to go through what we went through. It’s equal pay across the board from here on out. I’m looking forward to growing the sport and have this be a moment we look back on that signals a new U.S. Soccer we can all be proud of.”

Another fellow team player Alex Morgan said, “We really got full backpay on everything on non-World Cup bonuses, and I think an important piece of it was equalizing not only the money moving forward but the World Cup bonuses as well, and working with US Soccer and the men’s players association to find a way to equalizer that prize money moving forward. Obviously, we still call on FIFA for that, but this is a huge step and mending that relationship with US Soccer is also a big piece of that, and we feel very comfortable and happy with the moment that we got to right now because it’s a huge win for us, for women’s sports, for women in general. It’s a moment we can all celebrate together right now.”