U.S. Soccer announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to new, separate collective bargaining agreements with its mens and womens players unions which will pay players identical game bonuses and appearance fees and equally share the sum of prize money from their respective World Cups. The deals run simultaneously through the end of 2028.
The U.S. mens national team has been operating under the terms of a CBA which expired in December 2018, while the womens national teams CBA expired at the end of 2021. U.S. Soccer officials initially talked about wanting identical agreements for their mens and womens national teams, but because of the different nature of their work, figuring out equal rates of pay or identical economic terms, as the parties are referring to the metric stretched several months into 2022, even beyond the initial March 31 extension.
On Wednesday, the long saga ended which was a requirement for settling the years-long equal pay lawsuit. There is labor peace for the next six years, something U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone says will benefit soccer at large in the United States.
Now were all in it together, to work together and collaborate, to really grow the pie so that we can invest more money back into the game and grow the game, Parlow Cone said in an interview.
Crucial to the federations sign-off on the new agreements is the equal split of FIFA World Cup prize money going forward. The U.S. women earned $4 million for winning the 2019 World Cup; the U.S. men earned a $9 million bonus for making the round of 16 in 2014, the last time they appeared in the tournament. Those payouts are made by FIFA and out of U.S. Soccers control, but the recently re-elected Parlow Cone a former womens national team player was insistent that the pay needed to be equalized.
Under the new agreement, money from each World Cup this year for the men and next year for the women, in this cycle will be pooled into a sum. The federation will take 10% of it, and the mens and womens players will equally divide the remaining 90%.
"We as unions had come together and agreed in concept on the methodology which it would take to equalize World Cup prize money even last year, USWNT Players Association executive director Becca Roux said.
Many of the financial elements of the mens and womens contracts are indeed identical, including camp and roster bonuses ($8,000-$10,000, depending on the competition) and win bonuses. Per diems had already been made equal, and now the U.S. men and women will earn equal pay per day in camp and game played.
The U.S. women gave up their guaranteed salaries something which has slowly been phased out but previously offered players financial stability in lieu of larger club salaries which mens players are often afforded but they retained unique elements which differ from the men. Womens national team players will still receive health care, dental and vision benefits, parental leave for up to six months, and short-term disability. Both mens and womens players will continue to receive childcare, and U.S. Soccer will match up to 5% of players compensation in a 401(K) retirement account.
Each agreement also specifies minimum and equal standards for venues and field surfaces, accommodations and travel, national-team staffing, and safe work environments, according to U.S. Soccer. Roux mentioned data privacy as something of particular interest.
A new element of these agreements is the sharing of commercial revenue. U.S. Soccer says it will share a portion of its broadcast, partner, and sponsor revenue with players, divided into a 50-50 split between the mens and womens national teams. The federation will also pay players a share of ticket revenues for games which U.S. Soccer operates, the greater of $5.06 per ticket sold (rising to $5.75 in 2027) or 10% of the average ticket price of a sellout.