The number of players eligible for salaries went down over the life of the contract, while the number of non-salaried players who rely exclusively on call-up fees, roster appearance fees and performance bonuses increased. Working an office job and playing soccer wasn't feasible: When monthlong tournaments came around, like a World Cup, players usually had to quit their jobs or be fired.Įvery USWNT contract since 2005 has been built upon that basic salary structure, but in their last CBA, the USWNT players took a step away from it. Soccer for the USWNT in their 2005 CBA, when women's national team had very few club options: They faced the choice of playing soccer for their country with no financial stability, or getting other jobs to earn a better living. Year-round salaries were first introduced by U.S. Some of the players on the women's team get salaries, regardless of games played, but no players on the men's team do.įirst, it's important to understand why this big difference exists. The biggest difference between the two contracts - and the one that has caused the most tension - is how the players get paid. If the federation doesn't choose from the list, it "will explain its rationale to the Players Association," according to the language in both contracts. Soccer only pays the taxes for that health insurance, as stipulated in the CBA, and it's only worth about $1,500 per year per player.Īt the same time, both teams have essentially the same language around hotel accommodations: The teams and the federation produce a shortlist of preferred hotels in given geographic locations, which the federation is supposed to choose from. Olympic Committee since the women are considered Olympic athletes and the men aren't, per FIFA rules. The federation often cites this in arguing the women get better perks, but in actuality, the women get health insurance through the U.S. The men's CBA also makes no mention of health insurance, unlike the women's CBA, which guarantees it. Soccer sign such deals on the players' behalf, with the revenue split between the federation and the USMNT. In the USMNT's CBA, however, the men continued to let U.S. Soccer wasn't maximizing their marketability, so the USWNT launched its own commercial arm, signing licensing deals and collecting royalties without U.S. Soccer negotiators in 2017 when they announced they would take control of the licensing and sponsorship rights that U.S. The USWNT players, for instance, surprised U.S. While there are a lot of ways the current contracts between the USWNT and the USMNT are similar, each team prioritized different things when negotiating, resulting in different deals overall. To make the two teams' contracts more similar, who benefits and who loses out?Įvery CBA for either team is traditionally built on previous CBAs, and the next ones will be no different. Whether the USWNT and the USMNT are willing to accept a joint contract - and it appears for now they are not - it's clear there are plenty of differences to reconcile to eliminate the large disparities in the current deals. 31, 2018, both sides are negotiating for new contracts. With the USWNT's CBA set to expire on March 31 after agreeing to a three-month extension, and USMNT still operating on a CBA that technically expired on Dec. Soccer, both because of the bad publicity it has generated and because of the equal pay lawsuit that is still working its way through the legal system. The federation denies that happened, but what's clear is that the CBA the federation signed for the women in 2017 and remains in effect today is very different from the men's CBA - and that has been a big problem for U.S. Soccer dismissed the idea outright, leaving them with no choice but to accept an unequal contract so they could keep playing. The players have maintained that they asked in those negotiations for the same contract the men get, but U.S. Soccer alleging gender discrimination over the compensation and other non-monetary issues - much of what was in the CBA they signed in 2017. With a CBA finally done, it appeared everyone could move on.īut that's not really what happened. The USWNT's previous contract had expired months prior, and the players had considered going on strike earlier in the process but worried about how it could affect the National Women's Soccer League, which the USWNT players were obligated to play in. Soccer Federation agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement back in 2017, it seemed like a relief for both sides at the time. Soccer contracts as both sides negotiate new CBAs USWNT, USMNT pay gap explained: Comparing their U.S. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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