Luna Bar will pay each USWNT World Cup squad member $31,250 to close the gap with the men's teamLUNA
Members of the USWNT have said that their lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation is "not just about wages but also improving the sport for women participating in it at all levels," according to Rory Carroll of REUTERS. All 28 members of the team were "named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was filed in federal court last month and says the women are not paid the same as their male counterparts." USWNT MF Megan Rapinoe said, "For us it is really important to really look at the bigger picture of the compensation piece. I don't think you can talk about compensation articulately or intelligently until you have a conversation about funding across the board." Carroll notes since the lawsuit was filed, some companies have "stepped in to help close the pay gap." Snack company Luna Bar announced that it would "give each member of the squad competing at the Women's World Cup a one-time payment of $31,250 -- the difference in the bonus paid to the men's World Cup squad." Adidas also has said that if the USWNT "win the Women's World Cup this year its sponsored players would receive the same performance bonus payments as their male counterparts" (REUTERS, 4/2).
LUNA GIRLS: ESPNW.com's Alyssa Roenigk noted Luna Bar today publicly announced its donation "in conjunction with Equal Pay Day," but parent company Clif Bar Owners Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford and Senior Dir of Marketing Ritu Mathur "flew to Tampa to present the gift to the team" at a USWNT Players Association meeting on Feb. 19. The idea for the donation "began with a conversation" between Luna Bar and USWNTPA Exec Dir Becca Roux. Roux said, "I got an email asking how Luna Bar could support the women in their quest for equal pay. After that, it all went extremely fast." Roux and her staff "identified several wage gaps" between the men's and women's national teams before "settling on the World Cup roster bonuses as 'a clean, clear way to show a disparity'" (ESPNW.com, 4/1). SOCCER AMERICA's Paul Kennedy noted the arrangement with Luna Bar is "possible because the new collective bargaining agreement the USWNTPA reached with U.S. Soccer" in '17 "allows the women to enter into their own sponsorship agreements in categories not taken by the federation" (SOCCERAMERICA.com, 4/2).
