Lloyd (pictured) said the team is 'sick' of not getting equal pay and 'we are done with it'




We are 'sick of being treated like second-class citizens'  - Carli Lloyd

  • She and four members of the women's team filed a wage-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • Men's pay yearly for 20 games is $100,000 compared to $72,000 for women
  • Per game pay for men's soccer is $5,000 and women's pay is $3,600
  Continue story after the cut ...

The US Women's Soccer team has raised a possible threat of boycotting the August Olympics in Rio unless they get equal pay.   
Two-time Olympic gold medal winner and member of the 2015 World Cup winning team, Carli Lloyd, is one of four women spearheading equal pay for the women's soccer team.
Lloyd along with Hope Solo, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn filed a wage-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seeking equal pay on behalf of the whole team in late March, according to NBC.
US women's soccer team co-captain Sauerbrunn said players could decide in July to boycott August's Olympics if nothing has changed regarding the complaint. 


And the numbers broken down per game put the men's team members making $5,000 and the women's team members with just $3,600
Hope Solo (top left), Alex Morgan (bottom left) Carli Lloyd (bottom right) Becky Sauerbrunn (top right) and Megan Rapinoe filed a wage-discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seeking equal pay. The team said they could decide to boycott this year's Olympics in Rio if nothing changes


'Simply put, we're sick of being treated like second-class citizens. It wears on you after a while. And we are done with it,' Lloyd wrote in an essay published in the New York Times. 
Lloyd said on NBC's Today show that she believes the 'timing is right'. 
'I think that we've proven our worth over the years. 
'Just coming off of a World Cup win, the pay disparity between the men and women is just too large. And we want to continue to fight.'
Jeffrey Kessler, the New York-based attorney for the players, said the women's national team members are paid 40 per cent of what the U.S. men's national team players make. 
'This is one of the strongest cases of gender discrimination I have ever seen,' Kessler told USA Today Sports.
'We have a situation here where the women's have outperformed the men on the field and in every other way yet earn fraction of what the men are paid.'
Solo told USA Today that 'the numbers speak for themselves'.
'We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the USMNT get paid more to just show up, than we get paid to win major championships.'
Lloyd wrote in her essay that if she were 'a male soccer player who won a World Cup for the United States, my bonus would be $390,000'. 

The US men's soccer players are paid $100,000 for 20 games per year, compared to $72,000 for women
'Because I am a female soccer player, the bonus I got for our World Cup victory last summer was $75,000.' Lloyd wrote.
The US men's soccer members are paid $100,000 for 20 games per year, compared to $72,000 for women, according to The Times. 

And the numbers broken down per game put the men's team members making $5,000 and the women's team members with just $3,600. 
'We are not backing down anymore,' Lloyd wrote. 'This isn't about a money grab. It's about doing the right thing, the fair thing.'
The US Soccer Federation said in a statement that it's 'disappointed about this action'.
'We've been a world leader in women's soccer and are proud of the commitment we've made to building the women's game in the United States over the past 30 years.' 
The US women's players want 'equal pay for equal work', while Morgan adds that the team wants treatment equal to the US men on playing surfaces and travel accommodations.