The US Soccer Federation (USSF) and the nation’s women’s national team are to enter mediation after the FIFA World Cup to settle a discrimination lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Citing people familiar with the negotiations, the Journal reported that both sides had reached tentative agreement for mediation aimed at resolving the dispute between the federation and 28 members of the US national team.
Lawyers for the players on March 8 filed a lawsuit demanding equal pay and conditions to their less-successful male counterparts, stating that the governing body had “utterly failed” to promote gender equality.
The women’s legal team contacted the USSF after the start of the World Cup in France to float the possibility of mediation talks, the Journal reported.
The federation confirmed that it had agreed to enter mediation, the report added.
“While we welcome the opportunity to mediate, we are disappointed the plaintiffs’ counsel felt it necessary to share this news publicly during the Women’s World Cup and create any possible distraction from the team’s focus on the tournament and success on the field,” a USSF spokesman said. “We look forward to everyone returning their focus to the efforts on the field as we aim to win another title.”
The lawsuit argued for millions of US dollars in back pay and damages, and an end to inequalities compared with men relating to venues, number of matches, medical treatment, coaching, training opportunities and transportation.
“The USSF, in fact, has admitted that it pays its female player employees less than its male player employees and has gone so far as to claim that ‘market realities are such that the women do not deserve to be paid equally to the men,’” the lawsuit said.
“The USSF admits to such purposeful gender discrimination even during times when the [women] earned more profit, played more games, won more games, earned more championships and/or garnered higher television audiences,” it added.
The federation later said that it had been caught cold by the lawsuit, insisting it believed “all female athletes deserve fair and equitable pay.”
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on Monday combined for 63 points as the Phoenix Suns sent LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tumbling to their first defeat of the season. Booker bagged 33 points and Durant 30 to give the Suns a thrilling 109-105 win at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, avenging the Lakers’ 123-116 win over the Suns in Los Angeles on Friday last week. The Lakers arrived in Phoenix buoyed by an impressive 3-0 start to the campaign under new head coach J.J. Redick. They looked poised to keep that run going after making a blistering start, sprinting into an early 26-8