The 28 U.S. women’s national team players who sued U.S. Soccer for pay discrimination in 2019 have reached a proposed settlement with the federation on Tuesday morning. U.S. Soccer has agreed to pay $22 million in back pay as direct compensation to the players as part of the resolution of the long legal dispute, which goes back to a 2016 complaint filed to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The federation will also put an additional $2 million into a fund dedicated to players’ post-playing careers and charitable endeavors, for a total of $24 million. Each player will be able to apply for up to $50,000 from this fund. The players will also be in charge of proposing how the $22 million payment will be distributed between them, subject to final approval by the court.
The settlement is contingent upon the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement between the USWNT Players’ Association and the federation — the two sides are currently operating under a memorandum of understanding which runs through the end of March. Once a new CBA has been ratified, the district court will be able to schedule the final approval of this settlement.
While that CBA still needs to be completed, the federation has promised equal pay between the men’s and women’s national senior teams moving forward, for friendlies, tournaments, and World Cup play.
“We’re so happy,” USWNT star Megan Rapinoe told The Athletic. “We feel like this is a huge win — obviously contingent upon the ratification of the CBA — but it will have equal pay on everything moving forward. 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.”
Rapinoe said that the players achieved the “justice” of future players never having to suffer the same inequities, or fight the same fight for equal pay — but also reflected on the players before them. Cone, a member of the ‘99 World Cup champion squad, was instrumental now on the other side as president. “Thankful for Cindy,” Rapinoe said, “who fought really hard to get this done. Her knowing and experiencing all of this herself, probably worse than we had it, and knowing what a big champion she was of this (settlement), in potentially the face of some opposition.”
Assuming it’s finalized, the settlement is a massive win for the players after years of legal efforts to win equal pay, but it’s also a notable achievement for U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone. A former national team player herself, Cone is facing a re-election battle against her predecessor Carlos Cordeiro to serve as president of U.S. Soccer. Legal costs for the federation have only increased over the past few years, with their annual fiscal report for FY2021 showing over $9 million paid to firm Latham & Watkins.
With the appeal hearing scheduled to begin on March 7 in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Cone will rightfully tout Tuesday’s settlement not just as a major achievement for U.S. Soccer, but as hard proof she should retain her leadership position.
The two sides had found common ground before as part of a separate settlement in December 2020, when under Cone’s leadership the federation and players agreed to equal working conditions for the women’s national team. Despite those successful negotiations, the courtroom seemed inevitable regarding other parts of the suit. The upcoming presidential election may have provided some additional motivation for both sides to come to the table to finally hammer out a deal.
“This is a win for everyone. This settlement is a major step forward for U.S. Soccer, for the women’s team, and women’s sports and women in general,” Cone said. “I’ve said it many times before, resolving this litigation is a top priority of mine. It took me a lot longer to accomplish it than I was hoping for, but we’ve done it and it’s time to move forward.”
Cone was optimistic about the timeline for the completion of the new CBA between the federation and the USWNTPA. “The two groups have been working really hard, meeting multiple times a week. The players have been super engaged,” she said. “We all want to get it done as quickly as possible.”
The USWNTPA released a statement on Tuesday morning, which called the settlement an “incredible success” though the union noted work still remained. “The settlement does not become effective until the union and the Federation complete negotiations and ratify a new collective bargaining agreement. The members of the USWNTPA — and especially the bargaining committee — continue to be completely invested in these negotiations. The USWNTPA expects the Federation to come to the table, as they have agreed in the litigation settlement, fully committed to a new collective bargaining agreement that will, finally, provide for equal pay for the women’s national team players.”
As of Tuesday, U.S. Soccer and the players have finally taken the step of jointly requesting the court suspend the appeal of the lawsuit and remove the planned court date from the calendar.
While the $22 million payment is nowhere near the estimates provided by an expert for the players as part of the lawsuit (over $60 million in back pay damages if the court found a willful violation of the Equal Pay Act, almost $67 million in back pay damages for the players affected by the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act), it’s still an eye-popping number for U.S. Soccer to agree to, considering the financial impact of COVID-19.
The federation had already anticipated a major hit to their financial reserves by 2023 (from about $120 million to $40 million) and the financial update at the most recent USSF board meeting was more optimistic, so the settlement amount may be one that youth and state associations have a hard time understanding considering the overall scope of U.S. Soccer extends far beyond the senior national teams.
Cone has been consistent in her public statements as U.S. Soccer president: she always hoped that talking with the players would result in a settlement, and she hoped to then turn their collective focus to apply more pressure on FIFA to address the pay gap between the prize money of the men’s and women’s World Cups. The first objective has finally been achieved. Cone will find out next month if she earns another term to start working on the second.
(Photo: Brad Smith / ISI Photos / Getty Images)
GO DEEPER
Where things stand following the USWNT’s settlement with U.S. Soccer
