USWNT: The Truth About These Champions Changing the World

The USWNT are true champions, not only for winning the World Cup, but also for winning our hearts and minds as champions of equality. They showed the world it is not only about scoring goals, but it is also about winning a trophy for what you believe in.

It takes a lot of training to be the best athletes in the world, and it takes a lot of courage to stand up for what you believe in. The women’s players aren’t just good; they are amazing. They aren’t just a team, they are a powerhouse pack of badass women who captured the attention of the world by standing up, standing out and standing together.

Their passion and energy for how they played and what they believed in transformed their roaring fans into a united force for change. It was the first time in history a stadium erupted into a chant for the champions and for pay equality.

The women’s team showed us that in the end, it isn’t just about winning; it’s about resilience and never giving up. Despite the distractions about their lawsuit or their manners, they still managed to achieve greatness. They created that energy, spirit and sense of belonging around them so everyone believed in them, too. It was this electricity that was infectious. They brought the audience into their shoes and made the whole world feel like they are part of the team.

It’s clear that the USWNT were champions both on and off the field. So let’s just level set for a moment: If both the women’s team and the men’s team played and won 20 exhibition games, the women would score a maximum of $4,950 per game, while men would earn an average of $13,166 per game, according to Refinery29. Based on this, US women soccer players are making 38% of what men are making. Women are bringing home $31,250 less in roster bonuses compared to their male counterparts. And this year the prize money for the women’s World Cup is $30 million, compared to the $400 million for the men’s World Cup in 2018. That means the women are making just 7.5% of what the men are making.

Does this sound fair? The solution that FIFA president Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino proposed is to double the prize money for the women from $30 million to $60 million in the next World Cup, but it still doesn’t compare with the $440 million slated for the men. That means the women players will be making just 13.6% of what the men earn.

What I am missing here? If we truly want equal pay for equal play, here is what we need to do.

Restart the clock. We talk about banning salary history to determine current pay, so why doesn’t it apply here? Even if the female soccer players are making $30 million and its doubled to $60 million, we’ll never catch up. It's still just 13.6% compared to the salaries of the men. 

We can’t get to equal by retrofitting legacy: We have to start paying women based on what they’re worth rather than on what they’ve made in the past. If we can’t depend on our leaders in sports to level the playing field, then we’ll lead the way and they’ll have to follow, because we are champions.

We need more women in the business of sports. If the FIFA president were a woman, would we still be having this equal pay for equal work conversation? We need to flip the balance and get at least 30% representation of women across all levels—especially in the sports business that is so male dominated, which impacts the compensation of female athletes.

Brands can take a stand. Brands such as Luna Bar are setting an example: Luna Bar gave each of the 23 women named to the 2019 USNWT World Cup team $31,250, making up the difference between the women’s and men’s World Cup bonus.

Nike launched a powerful ad with messages of “don’t change your dream, change the world,” and “never stop winning.” They’re standing behind the women’s team for conquering more than the field, but for also being agents of change.

When it comes to sponsorship packages, the status quo has been for major soccer sponsorships to bundle both men’s and women’s programs and tournaments together, leaving it to sport’s governing bodies around the world, such as FIFA, to choose to divvy up those sponsorship dollars between men and women. Since the US federation isn’t unbundling it, Visa is sponsoring both the men and women’s teams, but allocating at least 50% of that investment directly to the women players, according to Fast Company.

Put more women in highlight reels. 40% of all sports participants are female, yet women’s sports receive only 4% of all sport media coverage, according to Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport. If you can see her, you can be her. We need more visibility for our female athletes, and that will help us get more funding.

Let’s hear it from the boys. Pay equality in soccer is not just a women’s issue, it’s all of our issue; we all need to get involved. It shouldn’t be about women fighting for their rights in soccer, it should be about soccer all together, and the men should be doing something about it. One senator is proposing to withhold federal funding for the men’s World Cup until the women’s national soccer team wins pay equity.

How do we tell our children that we’re living in a fair world if we have two different standards for men and women? It's time for a new playbook. Now we need to score the goal for equal pay.

This article was originally publish on FORBES.