CHAPTER FIFTY

The women WIN EQUAL PAY

After the 2015 Women’s World Cup, the US Women’s National Team used their heightened profile and propensity for activism to file a complaint  with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against US Soccer seeking equal pay to their male counterparts on the US Men’s National Team. Five players — Alex Morgan, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn — asserted that the US Soccer Federation’s payment structure unfairly favored male players, resulting in women earning significantly less than their male counterparts for similar work. Jeffrey Kessler, maybe the world’s most prominent sports attorney, became the legal anchor  to the USWNT efforts then and would remain so moving forward.

That complaint went unresolved but was the first step in a series of actions that ultimately brought the USWNT a victory. After a reconfiguration of the players union, and a few iterations of collective bargaining agreement negotiations, the women took charge of the fight for equal pay. And leading up to the 2019 Women’s World Cup, they decided to escalate the conflict, working with Kessler to file a lawsuit against US Soccer — this time in the name of 28 players on the national team roster at the time. Filed on International Women’s Day, the suit sought backpay and damages, in addition to equal pay moving forward. 

It would take three years to resolve, but eventually the women emerged victorious, settling with US Soccer for a landmark $24M. 

Kessler joined Founding Futbol to share his experience supporting the USWNT in their pursuit of equality. He talks about how he ended up in sports law,  when he first connected with the team and so much more.