A judge threw out the claim made by the United States women’s national team that they were paid less than the men’s team, and while this can be considered a win for U.S. Soccer, it’s hard to see how anyone wins here.
The ruling came Friday, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
While Judge R. Gary Klausner dismissed the claim that the women’s team was paid less than the men’s team, he did say that they could proceed with claims that they had unequal working conditions compared to the men’s team. (This is related to the men’s team flying on charter flights, while the USWNT often flies commercial.)
So, yes, U.S. Soccer got its win in court. There will undoubtedly be appeals and more to come with the claims that remain, but on this day at least, U.S. Soccer got its win.
But the question remains: At what cost?
Carlos Cordeiro is no longer the president of U.S. Soccer — he resigned in disgrace after legal arguments were leaked showing the organization claimed that women were inherently inferior to men when it came to the game of soccer.
U.S. Soccer and the USWNT’s relationship is beyond broken, and I’m not sure how long it will take to rebuild the trust there, or if it ever will be rebuilt.
The federation’s reputation with fans is in the dumpster, perhaps even lower than when the men’s team failed to qualify for the last World Cup.
US Soccer won a textbook pyrrhic victory: they won in court, but everyone who defended their case now has no job, and public opinion of the federation is somehow lower than the day after Couva. Everyone ended up mad, hurt and broken. https://t.co/hzz4eRYwys
— Matt Lichtenstadter (@MattsMusings1) May 2, 2020
If U.S. Soccer is ever going to get over this, they need to take this opportunity to get to the bargaining table, immediately, and come to a resolution. The organization cannot gloat over its win, it cannot assume this puts them in a position of power.
If the USWNT appeals, and this drags on, it’s only going to do more damage.
U.S. Soccer got its win, but if they want to come out of this with any shred of goodwill from the USWNT and its many fans, they need to put aside the pride and negotiate a deal now.
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