Five of the world's top women's soccer players have filed a federal wage discrimination complaint against U.S. Soccer, accusing the American governing body of unfairly paying them less than men's players. Predictably, the knee-jerk reaction among critics is to fall back on old, dubious arguments of "revenue" and the "free market."
The complaint, submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, was signed by national team co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, along with forward Alex Morgan, midfielder Megan Rapinoe and goalkeeper Hope Solo, on behalf of the entire women's squad. Representing them is Jeffrey Kessler, a prominent sports attorney who has previously taken on the NFL and the NBA and recently filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NCAA. "This is the strongest case of discrimination against women athletes in violation of law that I have ever seen," Kessler told the New York Times.
