Senator says resolution for equal pay in soccer is coming

A resolution that asks FIFA to pay female soccer players the same amount they pay male players will be introduced in the Senate soon, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) announced during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“Be ready for it,” she told Dan Flynn, CEO and secretary general of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

The Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing was held to examine the role of the United States in international soccer in the wake of the corruption scandal swirling around FIFA, the international governing body of soccer.

{mosads}After other subcommittee members finished questioning Flynn about whether he or any other executives knew anything about the alleged racketeering, bribery and corruption that took place at FIFA, Klobuchar started questioning him about how players are compensated.

Once Flynn confirmed that the U.S. women’s soccer team was paid $2 million for winning the World Cup, Klobuchar asked to confirm that the men’s team from Germany was paid $35 million for winning in 2014.

“I think it was $32,” Flynn said, correcting her.

“So it’s $2 million versus $32 million and the losing team in 2014, which was the U.S. men’s team, got $8 million,” she said, referring to the U.S. men’s team’s 11th-place finish in 2014.

“I believe it was $9 million,” he said, correcting her again.

“Ok, so we have a situation where the losing team actually got more than four-times the amount of money as the winning team,” Klobuchar said.

Flynn said the winning payments go to the federations, so payments to players are guided and governed by separate collective bargaining agreements.

“That’s one point, as a matter of background, I think is important,” he said.

But because Fox broke TV records, making the Women’s World Cup Final the most watched soccer telecast ever in the U.S., male or female, Klobuchar said the U.S. should be taking the lead in pushing for more equality.

“In tennis, they have equality,” she said. “Wimbledon last year decided to have equality in prizes. Wimbledon seems pretty old-school, and soccer is supposed to be like so, you know, nouveau and upscale and the cool progressive sport, and yet you have this disparity that I think is outrageous.”