The US Soccer women’s team will finally get paid the same as the US Soccer men’s team!
Being one of the most successful sports organizations in the world, the US women’s soccer team were finally offered the same contract as their men counterparts. The offer comes after they won the Women’s World Cup four times, and have claimed five Olympic gold medals.
As you probably know, the US men’s soccer team has had much less success, and they even failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. However, reports say that the men’s team is primarily compensated in bonuses, and the players receive $17,625 for every win against a top 10 opponent, while the women’s team receive a $100,000 salary and an $8,500 bonus for a win against a top 4 opponent.
USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone said earlier this month that the discrepancy of how the World Cup prize money is allocated is ‘by far the most challenging issue’ when it comes to paying both teams equally, because FIFA hasn’t equalized the prize money that it awards to the men’s and women’s World Cup participants.
Namely, the prize money for the 2018 men’s World Cup were $400 million in total, and the winning team (France) took home $38 million. In comparison, the prize money for the 2019 women’s World Cup were mere $30 million, and the US women’s team brought home $4 million.
FIFA claims that the reason for the gap is that the women’s World Cup generates only around 2 percent of the revenue that the men’s competition does.
Reportedly, the 2018 men’s World Cup generated $6.1 billion, while the women’s competition brought in $131 million.
The women’s team filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) back in May, claiming that they were owed equal pay. The lawsuit was initially dismissed because the judge claimed the women were paid more than the men per game, even though it was due to their achievements on the field.
However, even though the lawsuit was dismissed, the USSF just offered equal contracts to both the men’s and women’s soccer teams, and it’s the first time the USSF has done it publicly.
This is what the USSF said in a statement:
“U.S. Soccer firmly believes that the best path forward for all involved, and for the future of the sport in the United States, is a single pay structure for both senior national teams. This proposal will ensure that USWNT and USMNT players remain among the highest paid senior national team players in the world.”
We’re yet to see if the teams will agree on the terms in the contracts.
Source: Upworthy
