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U.S. Soccer, USWNT members settle equal pay lawsuit for $24 million

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HR King
May 29, 2001
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Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and other members of the U.S. women’s national team reached a $24 million settlement with their employer, the U.S. Soccer Federation, over claims that they had been systematically underpaid for years compared with the men’s team.
The settlement, announced Tuesday, ends a landmark case over gender discrimination, one that could resonate throughout the sports world and beyond. The women’s team garnered significant attention when they filed their lawsuit ahead of the 2019 World Cup, alleging that, had they been paid on the same terms as the men, they would have earned far more money. They went on to win the tournament to secure their fourth world title as the stadium in France reverberated with chants of “Equal pay!
Rapinoe, who was among the leaders of the lawsuit, called the settlement a “huge win” for the players and for female athletes globally, adding that she thought it would resonate far beyond soccer in this country.
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“This is going to be one of those incredible moments that we look back on and say the game changed forever, U.S. Soccer changed forever, and the landscape of soccer in this country and in the world changed forever because of this,” she said.
The agreement, which includes $22 million for the 28 players who filed suit and establishes a $2 million charitable fund for women’s and girls’ soccer, is a victory for the athletes but falls short of the $67 million they had pushed for in their suit.
As part of the settlement, U.S. Soccer also agreed to pay the men and women at an equal rate moving forward — including for the World Cup, where bonuses offered to men’s and women’s players by FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, remain profoundly unequal.
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Cindy Parlow Cone, U.S. Soccer’s president and a former women’s national team member, said the federation hoped to “rebuild” its relationship with the women’s team.
“I’ll be the first to admit that the federation made mistakes in the past, and as a former player I understand the frustration of being treated that way ... but I’m really proud of this moment,” she said.
Megan Rapinoe called the settlement a “huge win” for the players and for female athletes globally. (Kiichiro Sato/AP)
A district judge ruled against the women in 2020. But the players appealed to the Ninth Circuit last year, and U.S. Soccer continued to face pressure despite the legal victory. President Biden sided publicly with the women, threatening to cut funding for the 2026 World Cup, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this month agreed with the players in their appeal.
The details of the pay disparity that the players alleged are complex. The men’s team was compensated on a pay-for-play basis, with players earning more if they won, while many of the women were offered a base salary and smaller bonuses for winning. That difference was at the root of U.S. Soccer’s argument that it had not discriminated against the women’s team players.
But the women argued that the men’s team’s contract was more lucrative, laying out how they would have earned more if they were playing under the terms of the men’s deal. While U.S. Soccer said it had offered the women the same contract structure as the men, the women argued they had never been offered the same dollar amounts.
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U.S. Soccer took significant criticism over the disparity, especially after it argued in legal filings that the women’s players were less skilled and worked less demanding jobs than the men. The federation’s then-president, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned and apologized after an outcry that included many of U.S. Soccer’s biggest sponsors. Cordeiro is running against Parlow Cone in an attempt to regain his seat.
The settlement comes as U.S. Soccer is also dealing with a firestorm over allegations of coaching abuse that rocked the National Women’s Soccer League last year. The federation enlisted former acting attorney general Sally Yates to investigate after five of the league’s male coaches resigned or were fired amid misconduct allegations.
A group of prominent national team players involved in the suit condemned U.S. Soccer this month for its inaction after The Washington Post found allegations of sexual misconduct against Rory Dames, a longtime NWSL coach, in the youth soccer system that dated back decades. U.S. Soccer investigated Dames after a national team player filed a complaint against him in 2018 but allowed him to continue coaching.
Rapinoe said the reckoning over mistreatment of female players was tied closely to the gender discrimination that the national team alleged in their lawsuit.
“There is no justice unless this never happens again,” she said. “It’s all part of the same system. It’s part of a system of disrespect and of misogyny and sexism and inequality and discrimination. This is the first step, not the last step.”

 
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