Judy: The U.S. Soccer federation
announced a historic deal today
to ensure equal pay between the
men's and women's players.
U.S. Soccer becomes the first
national team to equalize pay
and bonuses in the sport,
including for world cup play.
We have the tales.
Reporter: Four years the pay
disparities between men and
women have been the source of
lawsuits and disputes.
The women's team has won four
world cups and four olympic gold
medals.
The U.S. Men have not won the
cup or a metal in the -- medal
in the modern era.
U.S. Soccer teams will put all
the money together and divided
equally.
For some perspective on this, I
enjoyed by a two-time of the big
gold medalist and 1999 world cup
champion.
She is the author of a
forthcoming book.
It is so great to have you here.
>> Thank you so much for having
me.
It is fantastic.
Reporter: U.S. Soccer is now
doing something that no other
soccer federation does, pooling
the money and then splitting it
equally.
This has been a long time
coming.
From where you said, what was
the tipping point?
>> It has been a long time
coming.
It has been almost three decades
in this fight.
I think the tipping point was
actually twofold.
One was she became the president
of the U.S. Soccer federation.
She was a former teammate of
mine.
She played about 10 years on the
national team and truly
understood the problem and
wanted to make a difference.
She was able to convince the
board of the U.S. Soccer
federation to bring together the
men's players and have the teams
discuss it and everybody be on
board.
I think the collaboration and
initiative should bow forward
was the thing that made it
happen.
>> You're easily one of the best
goalkeepers in soccer history.
A huge start of the sport.
You've also sacrificed a lot for
the sport.
You suffered a brain injury in
2010 that cut short your career.
Taking all that into
consideration, how you feel in
this moment?
Are you excited or not so
excited because it shouldn't
have taken so long?
>> That is a fantastic question.
When I found out about it this
morning I was thrilled it has
been such a long road.
Fighting for something for this
long, you really start to think
it will never happen.
Sure enough, here it is.
You have agreement on both
sides.
You have a great time for this
to happen.
I am really happy.
I am excited.
I'm so proud of all the players
like myself who led the
foundation.
They took it to another level.
I am so excited that we are
finally there.
Reporter: I am struck by
something I found in my
research.
France took home $38 million.
U.S. Women just the next year
took $4 million.
>> That was the world cup pay
disparity.
That was the issue.
Could they do anything about it?
I think she was very
instrumental in getting the
men's players together to say
how can we make this better?
They had many discussions.
They did not just roll over and
say sure.
They did the right thing.
They decided to have a more
unified front and were able to
get it done.
Reporter: Is this framework
rolled out elsewhere?
?
Can other countries do this?
>> I really think they can.
I think Europe in particular,
countries like Germany, France,
maybe England.
The men's teams can get together
with the women's teams.
I know the sport has been over
there a lot longer and is the
highlight of the countries.
But I think this can potentially
be done.
We are obviously the first ones
to see how it goes.
I really think it is possible to
roll it out elsewhere.
Reporter: The U.S. Men's team
had to give back some of their
earnings.
What was that like?
>> The turning point was the men
were sitting in on some of the
negotiations the women were
having with U.S. Soccer, getting
a feel for what it was like to
be on that side of the table.
They decided to have more
empathy and understanding.
The men make it a bit more money
from their club teams area they
get those salaries that are a
lot higher.
I think that made it a lot
easier.
Reporter: It was the U.S.
Women's team that puts locker on
the -- sock on the global map.
It is a lot better.