After a long and public battle, the U.S. Soccer Federation has finally decided to use some common sense and pay the men’s and women’s soccer teams equally.
According to ESPN, unions representing the United States men’s and women’s soccer teams ratified new collective bargaining agreements that “include an equal split of World Cup bonuses.”
U.S. Soccer announced the deal on Twitter, posting: “In a historic accomplishment, U.S. Soccer, @USMNT and @USWNT have come together to agree to new collective bargaining agreements that will run through 2028 and achieve true equal pay—including equalization of World Cup prize money.”
First of all, what took you so long?
U.S. Soccer spent years fighting a lawsuit from the more popular, more successful women’s team, only to come to an agreement once the men’s player’s association came on board? If we want to get real, based on their international dominance, the women should be making more money, but equal pay is certainly worth celebrating. Plus, with more Black women getting to the top level of the sport, fans want to know that equal pay won’t be one of the many obstacles they face.
The agreement also includes “identical performance-based bonuses for games and competitions. The women’s team will no longer have guaranteed salaries for some players and will have the same pay-to-play payment structure as the men’s team.”
“I’ve been saying it for a long time. I wanted to lead on this. I wanted U.S. Soccer to lead on this,” U.S. Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone told ESPN via a video call. “But we couldn’t do it alone. We needed both the men’s players and the men’s [union] and the women’s players and the women’s [union] to come together in one room to negotiate a contract.
If you need more proof that women’s soccer is on the rise, according to Grant Wahl, the NWSL is looking to once again expand as “MLS groups from Atlanta, Austin, Cincinnati, Salt Lake and Toronto and independent groups from Columbus and the Bay Area” are interested in joining the league. The news comes as new teams Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave are experiencing success in their first year.
Now that women’s soccer has opened the equal pay door, let’s hope the WNBA is next to figure out how to fairly pay its players so that they don’t have to spend their offseasons playing overseas. Yes, there are a lot of numbers to crunch, but it’s long past time for women athletes to be respected for everything they bring to the table.