Team USA Women Score a Major Goal for Pay Equity
By Austin Schoff
March is Women’s History Month, and just before it began, the US National Women’s Soccer Team scored a big goal for women’s equity in sports. ESPN reports that the two sides have reached a settlement where U.S. Soccer has agreed to pay a lump sum of $22 million in back pay to players where the methods will be approved by both the players and the court. U.S. Soccer also agreed to put $2 million into a USWNT fund for players’ post career goals and charitable efforts, where each player can apply for up to $50,000. Lastly, U.S. Soccer promises to provide equal pay between the women and men’s national senior teams in all friendlies and tournaments, World Cup included.
However, before the team can celebrate, the USWNT Players Association must ratify a new collective bargaining agreement for the settlement funds to be disbursed. The Athletic reports that the CBA could be ratified as early as April. While the agreement is not final yet, Captain and Olympic Gold Medalist Megan Rapinoe shared her excitement with The Athletic, saying in part, "It's honestly kind of surreal. I feel like I need to take a step back. We've all been in the trenches of it for so long. I think I honestly don't even understand how monumental this is."
This settlement may be the start of an equal pay wave coming in sports. Over in basketball world, WNBA players, as well as their male colleagues, are becoming increasingly outspoken on the widening pay gap not only between the players between leagues, but also between the coaches and players within the WNBA itself. Recently, Los Angeles Sparks star Liz Cambage tweeted her frustration with the WNBA, pointing out that newly minted WNBA coach Becky Hammon inked a $1 million contract when the highest a player can receive via supermax contract is reportedly $228,094.
Meanwhile, Cambage reportedly created an OnlyFans account to augment her salary, self-reporting that she upgrades her seat on flights to get to games out of her own pocket. Flight costs are another expense that WNBA players bear that NBA players do not. As of now, WNBA teams cannot charter their own planes for their teams. In fact, teams are actively fined if they do so. For instance, the New York Liberty was recently fined $500,000 for chartering flights during the 2021 season, leading to much controversy within the basketball community. While equal pay is making waves in soccer, only time will tell when these waves hit the shore of basketball.
Here at Couro, we promote athlete empowerment and equality by creating a platform where athletes take control of their platform by curating their own exclusive content at their own price on their own schedule. By allowing players to achieve their true free market value, we assist in lessening the financial burden of their sport. Instead of waiting for leagues and national sports associations to provide fair financial support for their players, we want to make that support a possibility now.
