This cannot be understated. The US Women’s Soccer Team is acting incredibly stupid. They are literally following the Donald Trump playbook of nonsense in their fight against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The entire situation is unsavory with all parties essentially trying their hardest to look as bad as possible.
Let’s get one thing straight. The US Women’s Soccer Team wanting to be paid the same as the men’s team is a reasonable request. Reasonable as long as they hadn’t already reached an agreement with the US Soccer Federation that passed on equal pay in favor of other benefits, such as health care, injury pay, 401(k) plans and severance.
But it doesn’t stop there. Making one mistake doesn’t mean the US Women’s Soccer Team is acting incredibly stupid. Now suing the other party because you made that mistake is a questionable move. As you would expect, a federal court resoundingly rejected that claim as part of a much larger lawsuit. Here is what Federal Judge R. Gary Klausner ruled (via NPR):
“The WNT [Women’s National Team] rejected an offer to be paid under the same pay-to-play structure as the MNT [Men’s National Team] and … the WNT was willing to forgo higher bonuses for other benefits, such as greater base compensation and the guarantee of a higher number of contracted players. Accordingly, Plaintiffs cannot now retroactively deem their CBA worse than the MNT CBA by reference to what they would have made had they been paid under the MNT’s pay-to-play structure when they themselves rejected such a structure.”
Basically, the US Women’s Soccer Team wanted to have their cake and eat it too, but were bluntly told no. And just like when Donald Trump and friends lost seemingly hundreds election lawsuits, lawyers for the player’s said the judge was wrong and vowed to keep fighting.
By the way, the judge’s ruling is the most cut and dry thing you’ll ever see. Seriously, this would have been like suing Electronics Boutique back in the day because you purchased Madden 99 at full price when the game was released only to see it in the bargain bin for $2.99 three years later. The US Women’s Soccer Team’s lawsuit defied logic and was rightly dismissed.
But that agreement expires at the end of this year and there had been hope everyone could sit down and finally agree to an equal pay structure for the men’s and women’s national teams. It is what the players want. It is what the fans want.
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To that end, the US Soccer Federation recently offered the US women’s national team and US men’s team identical proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement. Long story short, the pay would be equal. Now, there is no doubt US soccer probably tried to lowball both sides with the proposal but that is how every sports labor negotiation in history has started. The main concession has already been made.
Of course, this wasn’t good enough for them because the US Women’s Soccer Team is acting incredibly stupid. Here was their response to the offer:
USSF's PR stunts and bargaining through the media will not bring us any closer to a fair agreement. In contrast, we are committed to bargaining in good faith to achieve equal pay and the safest working conditions possible. The proposal that USSF made recently to us does neither. https://t.co/lzchRa0hea
— USWNT Players (@USWNTPlayers) September 15, 2021
Calling something a PR stunt and bargaining through the media when that’s literally all the US Women’s Soccer Team has done for the past two years is ridiculous. What’s more, someone is offering the framework for what they want, and it’s being dismissed immediately.
This is something Trump and his cronies do all the time. It is not about getting what you want. Instead, the key is making sure you are always the victim. They would gladly forego their demand to be able to complain about things.
And this is the US Women’s Soccer Team’s current strategy. You get the feeling equal pay is secondary to having the ability to complain about not being paid equally. Hell, they may even file a few more frivolous lawsuits for good measures.
Here’s the deal, if the US Women’s Soccer Team is serious about equal pay than the organization needs to stop acting so stupid. There is no reason for them to go full-on Donald Trump. Because if they take their eye off the ball, the group could end up scoring a calamitous own goal once again.
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