- [Clara] In 2022, the US Soccer Federation
and the US Women's National Team reached an agreement
to pay the men's and women's teams equally.
Hooray. What a wonderful world.
And all it took to convince US Soccer was
28 years of beef.
This episode of "Beef History" is presented by
BODYARMOR SportWater,
the water for the athlete in all of us.
In the nineties, the US Women's National Team
was comprised of stars like Michelle Akers, April Heinrichs,
Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm, and Carin Jennings-Gabarra,
pioneers of their sport who won a lot,
had endorsement deals, and began the fight for equal pay.
The imbalance started from the beginning.
Men who made the World Cup roster in 1990 got $10,000.
The women who made the World Cup roster in 1991 got t-shirts
and a bonding experience.
But okay, fine, US soccer President Alan Rothenberg
said there was no money to pay the women.
And the women could handle it.
Considering it was a different time,
just getting a chance to play soccer
and represent the country was enough.
When your hotel doesn't have water or electricity,
make lemonade.
Cards by candlelight sounds kind of nice actually.
But you know what's kind of unpalatable after four years?
Hot lemonade you have to drink
because there's no water or AC in the hotel
and you aren't paid enough to buy food.
Especially when you see that the men's team
is drinking champagne and showering in water.
With Julie Foudy leading the charge,
the US Women's National Team refused to sign
the same old crappy contract in '95.
Instead, they demanded a few basic dignities
that the men were afforded without a thought.
And there was something they wanted
that the men didn't have, a yearly salary.
At this time, both teams were only paid
when they played a game.
The men had a professional league to provide a salary
and before that, US soccer paid them enough
per game for them to live on.
For the women, however, they absolutely
were not making enough to live on,
there was no professional league,
and it's not like they could hold a regular job
when they're traveling months at a time to play soccer.
Players basically had to financially depend on their parents
or their spouse or quit.
The contract dispute was not resolved
in time for the '95 World Cup,
where the reigning champions finished a disappointing third.
Being at war with their employer didn't help.
- [Carin] Part of the reason that we would all agree
that we didn't win in 1995 was having the distraction
of having to fight for those things.
- [Clara] The team wasn't gonna be distracted again.
They wanted a contract before the '96 Olympics.
Speaking of the Olympics, the proposed contracts
offered a pretty unbalanced bonus structure.
To force US Soccer's hand, the players went on strike.
The medal bonus became the main pressing issue
and US Soccer Secretary General Hank Steinbrecher
got pretty aggressive in the press.
Essentially calling the players greedy and lazy.
Pretty misleading considering the women
were not asking for more money,
just incremental distributions of the allocated prize money.
Steinbrecher also said the Federation
was right to offer more medal bonuses for the men.
The men weren't expected to medal.
The women were favored to win gold.
Why reward the women for doing worse than expected?
As he summed it up, "We cannot reward mediocrity."
But if the Federation regularly pays the men more,
and the men aren't good enough to get any medal,
aren't they rewarding the men's mediocrity?
Anyway, Steinbrecher's comments helped nothing
and the women's team threatened to extend the strike
through the Olympics.
That forced US Soccer to fold, a bit.
The women would get bonuses for silver or gold,
but not bronze.
Off to the Olympics, where they won gold,
got the full bonus, and absolutely did not consider
the fight for equality over.
In '98, they went back to the Federation
with an extremely similar list of demands.
All stuff the men had, and while their at it,
can the women have enough money to live on?
This was a good time to ask for better treatment.
The team had never been more popular.
There was a very famous commercial
that essentially said Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan
were equivalent in star power.
Was US Soccer really going to continue
to make a Michael Jordan level star
stay in roach motels and carry her own equipment
and run out between training sessions
to buy bagels for the team?
Yes, yes, they were.
Until Mia Hamm threatened to skip the '99 World Cup draw.
Not having their most visible player
at what is essentially a pep rally for the World Cup
would be a rather large embarrassment for US Soccer.
So the Federation said, "Fine,
you can have these somewhat necessary things
for your professional sports team
that competes on the world stage."
It was a small win for the players,
but wins were hard to come by,
unless we're actually talking about soccer, of course.
The US Women's National Team won the '99 World Cup
in iconic fashion, in front of a sold out crowd
in an NFL stadium.
And with that, the Federation completely changed their tune.
So, happiness and prosperity to immediately follow?
Well, first there was a quick contentious fight
over a victory tour that the team set up without US Soccer
because US Soccer hadn't been interested in a victory tour.
The fight escalated to the Federation
threatening to sue the players and block the tour,
and it ended when Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy
threatened to retire.
That did the trick and the tour was on.
In January of 2000, the team was due for a new contract.
Thus, the Federation had a perfect opportunity
to give the players some of the money
Steinbrecher himself said they deserve.
Or the Federation had an opportunity to get a little revenge
for losing the victory tour battle.
US Soccer refused to discuss the new contract for months,
and then at the last minute said,
"Just sign the old contract and go home."
The players were pissed.
Not just about the money, but the lack of respect.
Of course, money was still part of it.
Shouldn't they have the same salary
and the same respect as the men?
No, said US Soccer.
Why?
Several reasons apparently.
Let's break 'em down.
One, the Federation is poor still.
Steinbrecher said equal pay would mortgage their future.
So, okay, that sounds serious.
We should consider...
Oh, fuck off Steinbrecher.
All right, what's the next argument?
Next.
I'm not. Next.
They pay the men more because FIFA pays US Soccer
higher bonuses for the men's World Cup participation
than the women's.
Okay, true, but US Soccer can distribute
the FIFA income any way they want.
So the women asked, "Why not pool it
and distribute it equally?"
After all, the women won their most recent World Cup,
whereas the men came in last.
The public was not on the Federation's side
despite the flawless PR campaign we just went over.
But Steinbrecher didn't care about a popularity contest
(coughs) or doing what's fair or right. (coughs)
With the 2000 Olympics around the corner,
the players felt they had no choice but to strike.
The Federation said, "Great, good, we like that actually."
But then the senior team talked to the under twenties
and the under eighteens and the under sixteens
and it didn't take much convincing.
The kids easily agreed to get on board.
And what do you know?
Being backed into a corner with no possible team to field
was all it took for US Soccer to give in partway.
The women would not get the security of a yearly salary,
but they would get guaranteed pay
for eight months out of the year.
So not perfect, but not disrespectful either.
Now, please enter this time machine.
We're gonna jump ahead many years
to the next time the US Women's National team
won the World Cup, 2015.
Some highlights of the years we're skipping over
would be three Olympic Golds.
And, hey, look at that.
10 years after they first requested it,
the team got a yearly salary
so they could earn a living playing soccer.
Nice.
Alright, 2015.
Our stars include players like Alex Morgan, Carly Lloyd,
Megan Rapinoe, Hope Solo, and Becky Sauerbraun.
Talented, popular athletes who were still
not paid equally to the men.
The 2015 World Cup finals broke the record
for most watched soccer game and TV history.
Men's or women's.
Happiness and prosperity followed?
Nope, instead the Federation,
now in charge of the victory tour,
scheduled games on absolutely terrible fields.
Megan Rapinoe tore her ACL on a field
that had all these metal plates in the ground.
And they had to cancel a game because of field conditions.
The men didn't have to deal with this sort of thing ever.
Hey, Julie, good to see you're still in the fight,
though I'm sorry the fight's still raging.
Let's talk later. Let's talk later.
Also at this time, there's some complicated legal stuff
going on that basically boiled down
to the players submitting a contract for equal pay
and the Federation screaming,
"You can't go on strike like last time.
Tell 'em, Judge, tell 'em."
The 2015 president of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati,
wasn't any more willing to pay the women's team
than Steinbrecher was.
In fact, when he was asked if the women deserve equal pay,
he turned the question around to ask,
"Shouldn't revenue influence pay?"
Interesting you bring that up, Gulati,
because in March of 2016
the players filed a wage discrimination complaint
that said the women's team brought in 20 million
more than the men, yet was paid four times less.
And they used the Federation's own reports
to get those numbers.
Bam. What can you say to that Gulati?
Oh, how?
The Federation argued that yes, in 2015
the women brought in more money than the men.
But, that was an anomaly,
because it was an extremely successful year,
what with the World Cup and all.
"Look to the past," they said, "the men made more."
Definitely don't look to the future,
where we're predicting the women
will again bring in more money than the men.
And if you do look at that, it's another anomaly.
US Soccer also had a problem with the whole
"We're paid four times less" claim.
Seems like this one could be simple.
Just look at the numbers.
Is one higher than the other?
Yes. Fix it.
"But," US Soccer cried,
"you can't just compare the numbers."
The women got a yearly salary, which they wanted,
and the men only get paid when they play a game.
So of course the men are gonna make more per game.
End of discussion, don't ask how much the salary is,
and don't do the math to divide the salary by games played.
Hey, hey, we said don't.
In case you're still on the Federation's side here,
or if you're on the player's side
and want to get even madder just for fun,
let's take a look at this op-ed Carly Lloyd wrote
shortly after filing the wage discrimination complaint.
Men got more per diem, more for sponsor appearances,
and more money from ticket sales.
Lloyd was sick of being disrespected.
Where have I heard that before?
Right.
Two years later, the players withdrew their complaint
of wage discrimination because the EEOC was taking forever.
That allowed them to take the complaint to a bigger stage.
On March 8th, 2019, just months before the World Cup,
the US Women's National team sued their employer
for equal pay in the present, future, as well as the past.
They wanted back pay.
The timing looked great for the players.
There was a new president of US Soccer, Carlos Cordeiro,
who had previously said the Federation
should respect and value the women's team.
Plus, more than ever before,
sponsors were siding with the players.
The fans were absolutely siding with the players
in a way you'd think would be impossible
for US Soccer to ignore.
When the US Women's National team won
yet another World Cup in 2019, the fans didn't chant USA.
- [Fans] Equal pay. Equal pay.
Equal pay. Equal pay.
Equal pay. Equal Pay.
- [Clara] On such a scale on the world stage,
it felt like US Soccer had to be moved to do something.
And the Federation responded by
spending money on lobbyists
to fight the women's team instead of just paying them.
What were the lobbyists even saying?
Well, we happen to have their brightly colored
presentation materials right here.
They said US Soccer actually paid the women more in 2018.
Now, it's true the women did receive more money in 2018,
but the way US Soccer is presenting the information
is pretty misleading.
Both the men and women get money for each game they play.
So where does it say how many games each team played?
It doesn't.
We'll go elsewhere for that.
They also get bonuses for winning.
So how many games did each...
It's, it's not there, I'll just tell you.
The women's team won a lot more than the men's.
And lastly, the lobbyist handout failed to mention
that the men didn't make the 2018 World Cup,
which was a big hit to their income.
So yes, the women got paid more,
but they had to play and win more games than the men.
And I guess US Soccer was pretending they didn't know that.
In March of 2020, the fight got even uglier.
In an official court filing,
the Federation said the men's and women's work was not equal
and thus the women did not deserve equal pay.
Essentially, the US Soccer Federation argued
that because men's and women's bodies
were inherently different, they can pay the women less.
As you can imagine, this argument
did not go over well in the public,
with US Soccer sponsors, nor with the players themselves.
Two days later, at the SheBelieves Cup,
the team wore their warmups inside out as protest.
Cordeiro resigned within a week.
US Soccer replaced him
with a former US Women's National team player.
That could be interesting,
but before anyone got a chance to get excited,
a judge dismissed the equal pay portion of the lawsuit.
He ruled the players could still sue for equal conditions,
but it looked like he bought
the Federation's misleading arguments.
I do love that "Sports Illustrated" mentions the judge's age
as if he's too old to possibly understand the nuance.
Because it does seem like he missed some of the nuance.
It was a crushing blow to the players.
It was like the rug had been pulled out from under them,
making them fall, land on their backs,
where all they could do was stare at the glass ceiling.
And someone had carved, "We win. You lose, ha ha.
Love, US Soccer," into the glass.
What the hell?
The players appealed the judge's ruling
and settled the equal conditions section of the lawsuit.
After the settlement, US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone
said she wanted to work toward equal pay.
Well, we've heard it before, Parlow Cone.
Oh, hold up, look what happened two years later.
US Soccer settled the back pay portion of the lawsuit.
They didn't have to.
There wasn't any indication the appeal would work,
but they did anyway.
This was a huge win.
Because of the money, yeah,
but also it was an admission of wrongdoing from US Soccer.
No more claims of anomalies.
No more gaslighting with cherry-picked numbers.
No more lobbyists.
Instead, respect.
And Parlow Cone pledged to pay the men's and women's teams
equally in the future.
Should we trust her?
She had just been pretty cool.
Three months later, in May, 2022, it happened.
Equal pay became a reality for US Soccer.
Here are the numbers,
but I think Julie Foudy summed it up best
with a one word tweet.
What a glorious moment.
Made a little less glorious
because it took 28 years of beef to get here.
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For Secret Base, I'm Clara Morris.
Goodnight and good game.