The United States Women’s National Soccer Team (USWNT) has earned a lot of victories over the years. But its biggest win may have come this month when it landed a major equal pay deal with the United States Men’s National Soccer Team (USMNT). In an exclusive interview with PopCulture.com, USWNT star Rose Lavelle reacted to the news of women being on the same pay level as the men.
“I think we all were like, ‘Finally.’ Finally, but it’s also, I think, something to celebrate,” Lavelle exclusively told PopCulture. “I think it’s been a long time coming. I feel like there’s been a lot of people before us that kind of laid the foundation to allow us to get here. The ’91 team, the ’99ers, Billy Jean King, so many people kind of allowed us to even be in the position to get this done. So it’s definitely a really, really cool day. I think we know there’s still so much more ground to gain in women’s soccer and women’s sports, but this was definitely a really cool day.”
Videos by PopCulture.com
Along with equal pay, the USWNT and the USMNT will split the commercial revenue equally and will share the World Cup prize money. They will also receive identical payments for per-game bonuses. The players will receive $18,000 for a win, $12,000 for a draw and $8,000 for a loss if the opponent is ranked in the top 25 of FIFA’s rankings in matches controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. For all other opponents, players will earn $13,000 for a win, $10,000 for a draw and $8,000 for a defeat.
The USWNT is arguably the most international women’s soccer team in history. Along with winning four World Cups, the squad has won four gold medals in the Olympics and nine CONCACAF Gold Cups. Lavelle has been with the team since 2017 and talked about her first experience at the Summer Olympics.
“Yeah, it was hard,” Lavelle said. “We went from the World Cup where I feel like a lot of things went right for us to the Olympics where a lot of things didn’t work for us. So I feel like they were two different experiences, but I think two different experiences that I learned a lot from in different ways. And I think considering how everything we went through as a team in the Olympics, I think coming away with the bronze was definitely pretty cool and a big deal, even though it was third place.”
