It’s no secret that women make less money than men in nearly every industry, earning approximately 82 cents to every man’s dollar — and nationally ranked athletes are no exception.
The National Women's Soccer League Players Association estimates that 75% of the NWSL players make $31,000 or less. Meanwhile, male players in the Major Soccer League had an average salary of nearly $400,000. However, the NWSL is making some changes this year and has partnered with UKG, a national payroll provider. UKG will be donating over a million dollars to NWSL to boost the winnings for female players in the NWSL Challenge Cup. UKG will be the first-ever title sponsor of the tournament.
“You have these exceptional athletes that identify as female, and get on the pitch to do extraordinary things,” says Brian Reaves, chief belonging, diversity and equity officer at UKG. “And even though the NWSL itself is one of the fastest growing professional sports leagues in the world, that gap exists.”
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The 2023 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup will be the first women’s professional soccer tournament to achieve pay equity with their male peers. Notably, this partnership is just one piece of UKG’s multimillion-dollar
At this year’s Challenge Cup, where matches were held from March through May, UKG already raised the winning players’ earnings from $1,000 to $10,000 per player. In 2023, UKG will bring the total player prize pool to $1 million dollars, which will be distributed to the winning team, runner-ups and semi-finalists. The NWSL also signed its first collective bargaining agreement in 2022, raising the minimum salary from $22,000 to $35,000. These minimum salaries will increase by 4% each season.
“The fact is that we’re playing catch-up,” says Jessica Berman, the commissioner for the NWSL. “Men’s sports have historically had far more resources and have had many more years to fully develop their business models. But we have absolutely reached a tipping point, and everyone understands that women’s sports is a business, not a charity.”
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Despite lower pay, women’s soccer games have garnered more revenue than men’s games. In 2016, this amounted to a $1.9 million difference, while between 2016 and 2018, women’s games generated nearly $1 million dollars more overall, according to audited financial statements from the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Despite winning four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals, the United States women's national soccer team, who represents U.S. women’s soccer on the global stage, has historically been underpaid, and sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for gender discrimination in 2019. This year marked the $24 million settlement, which was contingent on the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement for the women’s national team and U.S. Soccer. The federation has agreed to provide equal prize money to the national teams, becoming the first to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money in the world. Still, the U.S. federation is no longer managing the NWSL and will not be responsible for the national team’s salaries.
“We fundamentally believe that there’s equitable talent in the world, but there’s just not equitable opportunity,” says Reaves. “If we can remove the bias and all the things that hold us back, people will be paid equitably and opportunities will be given equitably.”
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The NWSL, along with the national women’s soccer team, has worked to create equitable opportunities for themselves, taking their fight beyond pay and to their benefits. For example, the 2022 bargaining agreement provides medical, dental and vision health insurance at no cost to the player. Additionally, every player has eight weeks of parental leave (for birth and adoption), and players will receive their full salary while pregnant. Teams are not allowed to go more than 14 days without a day off.
Between the advocacy present within and outside the NWSL, Berman and Reaves are confident that women’s soccer players will achieve equity in pay and opportunity, acting as the first domino to fall in a long line to addressing gender discrimination and pay gaps in professional sports.
“My hope for the NWSL is that our league becomes the standard-bearer for excellence in professional sports,” says Berman. “Not just in women’s soccer and not just in women’s sports, but in professional sports, period. We want to be the very best league in the world.”
