1
00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,200
Speaker 1: Welcome to Long Shot. I'm executive producer Davin Coburn. This

2
00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:08,000
Speaker 1: is our second season of audio documentaries at the intersection

3
00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,280
Speaker 1: of sports and social change, reported by McClatchy newsrooms around

4
00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:15,440
Speaker 1: the country. This season, we're heading to North Carolina, the

5
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,040
Speaker 1: heart of women's soccer in America and the place where

6
00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,480
Speaker 1: former U S national team striker Jessica McDonald became one

7
00:00:21,480 --> 00:00:26,000
Speaker 1: of the most remarkable figures in sports. This podcast began

8
00:00:26,040 --> 00:00:28,560
Speaker 1: as a story about the national team's fight for equal pay,

9
00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:32,159
Speaker 1: McDonald's role in that legal battle and their groundbreaking settlement

10
00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,560
Speaker 1: with the US Soccer Federation, But over more than a

11
00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:39,240
Speaker 1: year of reporting, this story became an investigation into structural

12
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:42,239
Speaker 1: inequities rampant in the women's game, and a look at

13
00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,519
Speaker 1: how McDonald's journey ties together so many of those threads.

14
00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:49,880
Speaker 1: The lead reporter for this season is Alexandreev. She's the

15
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:52,320
Speaker 1: head soccer writer at The Charlotte Observer, and she'll be

16
00:00:52,360 --> 00:00:56,760
Speaker 1: your host for all ten episodes. A listener note this

17
00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,320
Speaker 1: podcast contains adult language and adult themes, including harassment and

18
00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:05,440
Speaker 1: alleged abuse against women, including from one of McDonald's former coaches.

19
00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:10,240
Speaker 1: Allegations will address in a later episode and now from

20
00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,800
Speaker 1: The Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News An Observer, McClatchy Studios, and

21
00:01:13,840 --> 00:01:17,960
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, This is Long Shot Season two payback.

22
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:29,760
Speaker 1: It's the minute of the Women's World Cup Final in Leon, France.

23
00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:33,000
Speaker 1: The US women's national team leaves the Netherlands one zero

24
00:01:33,160 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: when midfielder Rose Lavell cuts to her left at the

25
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:37,800
Speaker 1: top of the penalty box and carves her name in

26
00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:47,440
Speaker 1: American soccer history. Looking with the two goal lead and

27
00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,160
Speaker 1: yet another World Cup title in their sites, nothing was

28
00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:54,160
Speaker 1: going to stop the American women That's it us, hands

29
00:01:54,200 --> 00:02:00,920
Speaker 1: it hold hold. Some of the players on the team

30
00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 1: have become household names Megan Rapino, come Back the Neck,

31
00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:13,800
Speaker 1: Alex Morgan, Scot. But for many of those players and

32
00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,799
Speaker 1: their fans, what that us when meant off the field

33
00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:19,160
Speaker 1: could prove to be more important than what it meant

34
00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:25,679
Speaker 1: on it Because the players made snow angels and sparkling confetti.

35
00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:31,160
Speaker 1: Ark Olympique Leone erupted in Chance, fans around the world

36
00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:35,280
Speaker 1: rallying behind not just a team, but a movement. The

37
00:02:35,360 --> 00:02:37,960
Speaker 1: US women's soccer teams behind the scenes battle with its

38
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:42,280
Speaker 1: own parent federation exploding on a global stage. This morning,

39
00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,120
Speaker 1: negotiations breaking down between women Soccer and the US Soccer

40
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,520
Speaker 1: Federation over the fight. The federation was never willing to

41
00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,640
Speaker 1: offer the women equal pay. The numbers were always worse

42
00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,600
Speaker 1: for the women, so in order to get equality, they

43
00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,520
Speaker 1: had it performed twice as well. This is not just

44
00:02:59,639 --> 00:03:04,480
Speaker 1: about money. This is about generations of discrimination against women

45
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:09,320
Speaker 1: on the basis of their gender. I'm Alexandre of lead

46
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:12,200
Speaker 1: soccer writer for The Charlotte Observer, and for the past

47
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:14,320
Speaker 1: year I've been reporting on a women's game at a

48
00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:19,200
Speaker 1: crossroads and maybe in crisis. Women's soccer is turned upside

49
00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,200
Speaker 1: down after a shocking report that a prominent male coach

50
00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,679
Speaker 1: is accused of coercing players into having sex. This podcast

51
00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:29,680
Speaker 1: began as an investigation into the US players fight for

52
00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,720
Speaker 1: equal pay, an issue with far more nuance than a tweet.

53
00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:36,360
Speaker 1: The women were empowered to negotiate their own contract and

54
00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,120
Speaker 1: the contract that they wanted. But what became apparent is

55
00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,080
Speaker 1: that there's so much more to this story, and reporting

56
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,080
Speaker 1: that began about equal pay quickly became a wide ranging

57
00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:49,800
Speaker 1: investigation into how so many different components of social inequity

58
00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,440
Speaker 1: coalesce and a women's game long struggling for legitimacy. I

59
00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,720
Speaker 1: think there has been a huge change, and I think

60
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:58,480
Speaker 1: there has been no change. We're still talking about the

61
00:03:58,520 --> 00:04:01,240
Speaker 1: same damn shit. Over the past year, I spoke with

62
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,280
Speaker 1: current players across all levels of major women's soccer in

63
00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:07,320
Speaker 1: the US and legends from the game's past. There was

64
00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,240
Speaker 1: just a level of disrespect. We thought, what we're asking

65
00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,080
Speaker 1: for is not a lot. I spoke with players, families

66
00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,320
Speaker 1: and friends, and I sat down for a rare one

67
00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:19,159
Speaker 1: on one conversation with the president of the US Soccer

68
00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,279
Speaker 1: Federation responsible for settling the player's groundbreaking lawsuit. Has the

69
00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: federation been perfect? Absolutely not. But I've done everything to

70
00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:32,799
Speaker 1: address the things that I can address. I discovered along

71
00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,159
Speaker 1: the way that women's soccer, there's no story quite like

72
00:04:36,240 --> 00:04:41,080
Speaker 1: Jessica McDonald's. Jessica McDonald making her first start for the

73
00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,240
Speaker 1: US women's national team. How about that the striker from

74
00:04:44,240 --> 00:04:46,800
Speaker 1: that twenty nineteen World Cup team who might not be

75
00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,280
Speaker 1: a household name, but whose story you'll never forget ran

76
00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,880
Speaker 1: away from home when I was seventeen years old. I

77
00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,839
Speaker 1: wasn't just scared. I was scared for my life. Jessica,

78
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,359
Speaker 1: She's had some very difficult moments in her life, but

79
00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:01,359
Speaker 1: there's something inside the great athlete that is why they're great.

80
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:04,799
Speaker 1: Whose personal battle provides a shocking perspective as she tells

81
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,440
Speaker 1: her story for the first time, Thank God for sports.

82
00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:10,160
Speaker 1: That was my escape. And then I find out I'm

83
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,200
Speaker 1: pregnant with my son, giving the national team's battle a

84
00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,040
Speaker 1: new light. I've always been the only mom on many

85
00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:18,359
Speaker 1: teams I played for. I could have a bad game

86
00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:21,960
Speaker 1: and my child would get blamed. Building her own legacy

87
00:05:22,200 --> 00:05:24,960
Speaker 1: while standing alongside her teammates as they set the stage

88
00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:30,560
Speaker 1: for generations to come. Imagine women in workforces everywhere having

89
00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,880
Speaker 1: to fight less to be valued the same, especially for

90
00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:37,880
Speaker 1: the little girls who wouldn't be in our shoes. One day.

91
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:40,719
Speaker 1: You could totally be badass and be a mom at

92
00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,600
Speaker 1: the same time. From The Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News and Observer,

93
00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:50,000
Speaker 1: McClatchy Studios, and I Heart Radio, this is Payback Part

94
00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:55,919
Speaker 1: one the Roach Motel. The women of the US soccer

95
00:05:55,960 --> 00:05:59,839
Speaker 1: team are world champions again. Team USA beat the Netherlands

96
00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:05,240
Speaker 1: too nil in Leon. It's probably one of those incredible

97
00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:07,880
Speaker 1: moments that you know, I've ever been a part of

98
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:11,240
Speaker 1: with my teammates I've chills right now thinking about it.

99
00:06:12,400 --> 00:06:15,760
Speaker 1: U S women's national team striker Jessica McDonald, one of

100
00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:18,640
Speaker 1: twenty three players on that World Cup team. Are youably

101
00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 1: the most dominant squad ever fielded by the most dominant

102
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,680
Speaker 1: institution in all of soccer for people and a whole

103
00:06:25,839 --> 00:06:30,800
Speaker 1: another country, the whole stadium in France cheering for US

104
00:06:30,920 --> 00:06:34,000
Speaker 1: equal pay. We knew at that point that it was

105
00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:37,720
Speaker 1: a movement. It was a chant that echoed through the ages,

106
00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,880
Speaker 1: the culmination of so many different battles for gender equality.

107
00:06:42,200 --> 00:06:44,800
Speaker 1: It's hard to pick one specific starting point. And the

108
00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,560
Speaker 1: war between the sexes could become an ohm a god

109
00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:50,520
Speaker 1: if we don't get on with our revolution. Maybe it

110
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,240
Speaker 1: was nine sixty three when author Betty for Dan is

111
00:06:53,279 --> 00:06:56,320
Speaker 1: widely credited with launching second wave feminism. But if we

112
00:06:56,360 --> 00:06:58,800
Speaker 1: do get on with it, and we restructures society to

113
00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,599
Speaker 1: make the quality really possible, that I think the war

114
00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:05,920
Speaker 1: between the sexes will And maybe it was two when

115
00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:09,760
Speaker 1: President Richard Nixon signed into law Title nine, preventing discrimination

116
00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:12,680
Speaker 1: on the basis of sex and schools, including in athletics.

117
00:07:13,320 --> 00:07:16,640
Speaker 1: Titleline is one of the most important pieces of legislation

118
00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:20,080
Speaker 1: of the twentieth century. On the anniversary of that legislation,

119
00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:23,960
Speaker 1: former tennis star Billy Jean King testified before Congress about

120
00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:28,000
Speaker 1: its impacts. The thirty seven words which comprise the language

121
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,560
Speaker 1: of the amendment have proven powerful enough to change our

122
00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:35,320
Speaker 1: society and provide opportunities in the classroom and on the

123
00:07:35,360 --> 00:07:41,000
Speaker 1: athletic stage for countless young men and women. Third match

124
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,960
Speaker 1: boys for Billy Jane here, King herself brought the turning

125
00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:48,240
Speaker 1: point to professional sports in her famous nineteen seventy three

126
00:07:48,280 --> 00:08:02,080
Speaker 1: tennis Battle of the Sexes. What more, I wonder sometimes

127
00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:04,640
Speaker 1: what Billy Jean King thinks of all this. This is

128
00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:08,560
Speaker 1: Michelle Acres. She was a founding member of the U

129
00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,720
Speaker 1: S women's national soccer team. I think there has been

130
00:08:11,760 --> 00:08:13,880
Speaker 1: a huge change, and I think there has been no

131
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:17,600
Speaker 1: change all At the same time, Acres might be the

132
00:08:17,600 --> 00:08:21,720
Speaker 1: greatest women's soccer player of all time. During her fifteen

133
00:08:21,760 --> 00:08:25,360
Speaker 1: year international career, she won basically everything there is to win,

134
00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:29,000
Speaker 1: and after Acres retired in two thousand, SIFA named her

135
00:08:29,040 --> 00:08:32,160
Speaker 1: the women's player of the previous century. Since I retired,

136
00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:35,800
Speaker 1: I not night and day, but it is hugely different.

137
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:38,960
Speaker 1: It seems like every profile ever written of her contains

138
00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:42,160
Speaker 1: the word grit. However, we're still talking about the same

139
00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:49,000
Speaker 1: damn shit In the early days of the women's national team.

140
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,840
Speaker 1: Grit is exactly what they needed because no one, including

141
00:08:52,840 --> 00:08:55,600
Speaker 1: the US Soccer Federation that ran it, really had a

142
00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,480
Speaker 1: clue what the women's national team was. I think that

143
00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:03,199
Speaker 1: was so special about that team they played because they

144
00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,560
Speaker 1: loved it. Back in the U S women's national team

145
00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:09,600
Speaker 1: was held together with hand me downs. Just about everything

146
00:09:09,640 --> 00:09:11,760
Speaker 1: they had was left over from the men's national team,

147
00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:15,400
Speaker 1: including the jerseys they wore. Legend has it, the night

148
00:09:15,440 --> 00:09:17,920
Speaker 1: before their first tournament, the women stayed up through the

149
00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,920
Speaker 1: night sewing the letters USA onto those men's practice uniforms

150
00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,400
Speaker 1: so the women could wear them in their international competition,

151
00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:28,800
Speaker 1: literally like the old uniforms that the boys national team war.

152
00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:31,520
Speaker 1: Do you look at old pictures and the sleeves come

153
00:09:31,559 --> 00:09:35,360
Speaker 1: down past your elbows. It's a good look. Julie Foudy

154
00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,000
Speaker 1: joined the team in nine seven, when she was sixteen

155
00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:41,120
Speaker 1: years old. Anson Durance, who was the national team coach

156
00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,840
Speaker 1: at the time, ended up calling us in and saying, hey,

157
00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,520
Speaker 1: do you want to come and play at the tournament

158
00:09:47,559 --> 00:09:50,280
Speaker 1: in China. I was like a sophomore in high school,

159
00:09:50,280 --> 00:09:52,960
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm not going to China. Who

160
00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:55,560
Speaker 1: is this guy Anson? And what is he saying about

161
00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:57,240
Speaker 1: this US team? I don't even know what this is.

162
00:09:57,800 --> 00:10:00,320
Speaker 1: And he says to me, do you know and I'm

163
00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:03,440
Speaker 1: asking you? I was like, not really, clearly, I don't.

164
00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,360
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm asking you to play for the United

165
00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,400
Speaker 1: States of America. I was like, so that's probably a

166
00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:13,200
Speaker 1: pretty big deal. He's like, yeah. He held its first

167
00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:19,240
Speaker 1: international tournament for women. Highlighted in this British documentary, teams

168
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,439
Speaker 1: from twelve countries have gathered in what many people are

169
00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,839
Speaker 1: predicting to be one of the most exciting new developments

170
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,240
Speaker 1: in soccer for many years. It's soccer, but with a difference.

171
00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:34,560
Speaker 1: For this is the first world football tournament for winning.

172
00:10:36,120 --> 00:10:38,400
Speaker 1: The US team was knocked out in the quarterfinals of

173
00:10:38,440 --> 00:10:41,360
Speaker 1: that tournament, but at the time, being there at all

174
00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:43,880
Speaker 1: was the only thing that mattered to Foudy. In her teammates,

175
00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:47,959
Speaker 1: there was ten dollars a day Berta and I remember

176
00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,520
Speaker 1: I got so excited because I got to bring home.

177
00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,200
Speaker 1: It was a navy blue windbreaker with red stripes and

178
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:58,160
Speaker 1: it said USA, and I was like hot damn, I

179
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:03,120
Speaker 1: just got you in stage act and ten dollars a day.

180
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:11,680
Speaker 1: Who am I? This is amazing? From Tiani Stadium in

181
00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:16,640
Speaker 1: guang Chu, China, It's the Feedball Women's World Championship Finals

182
00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:21,320
Speaker 1: for the eminem sjob. The US was one of a

183
00:11:21,320 --> 00:11:24,920
Speaker 1: dozen women's teams invited back to China. The U S

184
00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,320
Speaker 1: women marched through the group stage and met Norway in

185
00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,000
Speaker 1: the championship match. Announcer Randy Han called the game, which

186
00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,560
Speaker 1: was tape delayed and broadcast on Sports Channel America. For

187
00:11:34,640 --> 00:11:37,199
Speaker 1: the first time in the history of American soccer, a

188
00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:41,000
Speaker 1: US team will play We're a world championship. Before kickoff,

189
00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:43,760
Speaker 1: US head coach Anson Dorn spoke with Han about what

190
00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,120
Speaker 1: a win there could mean. You know, we're doing this.

191
00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:47,839
Speaker 1: We're all sorts of reasons to show that, you know,

192
00:11:47,840 --> 00:11:50,120
Speaker 1: if we make the investment in American soccer, will play

193
00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:52,920
Speaker 1: off that we're not second class citizens in the world

194
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,199
Speaker 1: game and we can play it. So we're all very

195
00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:59,160
Speaker 1: excited about this match. In that final, Acres scored twice

196
00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,080
Speaker 1: for the women's team, and the American women held on

197
00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,760
Speaker 1: to win by a score of two to one. We

198
00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:11,520
Speaker 1: wait simply put the whipple finally won a world good soccer.

199
00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:16,320
Speaker 1: In the span of just a few years, the US

200
00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,000
Speaker 1: women's national team had gone from hand me down jerseys

201
00:12:19,120 --> 00:12:22,760
Speaker 1: to a World Cup title. The year before thought he

202
00:12:22,800 --> 00:12:25,280
Speaker 1: had watched the US men's national team make their own

203
00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,839
Speaker 1: World Cup for the first time in forty years. There

204
00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:31,679
Speaker 1: was such excitement on the eve of that tournament. Then

205
00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:34,240
Speaker 1: they lost all three matches they played and were sent

206
00:12:34,280 --> 00:12:38,800
Speaker 1: home in a hurry. No question, the Men's World Cup

207
00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:41,640
Speaker 1: was arguably the most important sporting event on Earth, with

208
00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,640
Speaker 1: infinitely more visibility and prestige than the Women's World Cup.

209
00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,760
Speaker 1: But it's also true that there was already no question

210
00:12:48,800 --> 00:12:52,480
Speaker 1: which American team performed better on the world stage. We

211
00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:57,120
Speaker 1: started to realize there was a real disparity in our

212
00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,480
Speaker 1: treatment and our funding and our support, and so little

213
00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:04,920
Speaker 1: things started to fester. Despite the struggles of the men's team,

214
00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:07,720
Speaker 1: an even larger honor awaited them and the US Soccer

215
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:14,600
Speaker 1: Federation hosting duties for the Men's World Cup. It was

216
00:13:14,640 --> 00:13:16,679
Speaker 1: the first and only time the men's tournament had been

217
00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,839
Speaker 1: played on American soil. In US soccer through everything it

218
00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:22,520
Speaker 1: had into elevating the men's game in preparation for it,

219
00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:25,840
Speaker 1: and then you see how with the ninety four World

220
00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,240
Speaker 1: Cup happening, how the men were treated and the attention

221
00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,200
Speaker 1: around them. You're like, wait a second, why are they

222
00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:33,199
Speaker 1: staying at five star hotels and we're at the roaching hotel? Right?

223
00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:36,760
Speaker 1: Why did they have seven massage therapists and we can't

224
00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:40,160
Speaker 1: even get a trainer And we're not asking for millions,

225
00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:43,960
Speaker 1: We're asking for simple things, and they're not moving. It

226
00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,240
Speaker 1: was kind of the mentality of just be grateful you

227
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:47,760
Speaker 1: get to put on the red, white and blue and

228
00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:55,240
Speaker 1: sit down, sister. It was clear that order for the

229
00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:58,040
Speaker 1: women's game to move forward in America, those players would

230
00:13:58,040 --> 00:14:01,280
Speaker 1: have to send a message to us Walker and the

231
00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:03,240
Speaker 1: growing number of little girls who were beginning to look

232
00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:12,559
Speaker 1: up to them. Yeah. I think I spent the full,

233
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:17,920
Speaker 1: like first four years scared to death. You have to

234
00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,440
Speaker 1: realize I joined the team when I was seventeen. I

235
00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:24,320
Speaker 1: still had a poster of the women's national team up

236
00:14:24,360 --> 00:14:26,720
Speaker 1: on my wall at home in my parents house. You

237
00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:31,280
Speaker 1: remember what year that poster was, Yeah, it was up Okay,

238
00:14:31,400 --> 00:14:35,560
Speaker 1: Oh I remember. Cindy Parlocone began training with the women's

239
00:14:35,640 --> 00:14:39,880
Speaker 1: national team at the time. She was a college student

240
00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:43,080
Speaker 1: at the University of North Carolina. Today, she coaches a

241
00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,440
Speaker 1: traveling soccer team and we met after one of her

242
00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:50,560
Speaker 1: games in Charlotte. Carlo Cone knows firsthand just how influential

243
00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,080
Speaker 1: that women's team can be for girls everywhere. I was

244
00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:58,880
Speaker 1: a really quiet, reserved kid, so I spent quite a

245
00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:01,080
Speaker 1: bit of time going whole, really a crop. I'm on

246
00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,440
Speaker 1: the field with all these people that are literally I

247
00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:05,720
Speaker 1: look at every night on the post in my or

248
00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:09,440
Speaker 1: a good sleep. When Parlocone was growing up, there was

249
00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 1: no paid professional women's soccer league in the United States

250
00:15:12,800 --> 00:15:15,480
Speaker 1: for young girls who loved the game like Acres and

251
00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:19,120
Speaker 1: Faudi and Parlocne. There was one main pathway for elite

252
00:15:19,120 --> 00:15:23,640
Speaker 1: women soccer in America and one employer, the US Soccer Federation,

253
00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:27,800
Speaker 1: that controlled all the money. When I was in high school,

254
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,480
Speaker 1: there was only like a few college scholarships for women's soccer.

255
00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:33,960
Speaker 1: There was no World Cup for women. There was an Olympics.

256
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,520
Speaker 1: Here's Michelle Acres again. That was what really opened my

257
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,680
Speaker 1: eyes to what opportunities were there for women, And it

258
00:15:42,760 --> 00:15:47,040
Speaker 1: was so disappointing and discouraging and as far as like

259
00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:52,240
Speaker 1: facilities and travel, and it was basically high school sports

260
00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:56,080
Speaker 1: you know, with maybe in a little college sport flavor

261
00:15:56,240 --> 00:16:02,680
Speaker 1: thrown in there. It was so hard to play in

262
00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:04,960
Speaker 1: the men's World Cup brought a dramatic boost to the

263
00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,520
Speaker 1: men's game in the United States, even as the men's

264
00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,240
Speaker 1: team lost in round six team one nil to Brazil

265
00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:14,000
Speaker 1: on the fourth of July. The women's team finished third

266
00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:16,320
Speaker 1: in their own World Cup the very next year, led

267
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,240
Speaker 1: by forward Mia Hamm who was quickly becoming the face

268
00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:23,480
Speaker 1: of the team. The influence that we had, and by

269
00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:27,360
Speaker 1: we I mean mostly Nia had was good, but it

270
00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:31,680
Speaker 1: was pre social media. Now, their reach and their influence

271
00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,720
Speaker 1: is so much greater than I ever could have imagined

272
00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:38,080
Speaker 1: when I played. Harlo Cone remembers the players embraced their

273
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,880
Speaker 1: roles as ambassadors for the game, even as the structural

274
00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:45,000
Speaker 1: inequality persisted, their advocacy for a grow in the game

275
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,400
Speaker 1: and staying till the last autograph was signed carrying the

276
00:16:48,480 --> 00:16:52,680
Speaker 1: water coolers from practice. Yeah, I learned a lot about soccer,

277
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:55,320
Speaker 1: but I learned a lot more about how to be

278
00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,920
Speaker 1: a good person and how to lead. Carlo Cone and

279
00:16:58,960 --> 00:17:01,720
Speaker 1: her leadership will become a larger piece of this story

280
00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:04,960
Speaker 1: a little later. But back when she joined the national team.

281
00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:10,560
Speaker 1: It was the veterans leading the way on gender equality.

282
00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:13,800
Speaker 1: The International Olympic Committee announced that women's soccer would make

283
00:17:13,840 --> 00:17:16,919
Speaker 1: its debut in the Games the following summer in Atlanta,

284
00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,760
Speaker 1: a men's tournament and a women's tournament, men's medals, women's medals.

285
00:17:23,040 --> 00:17:25,480
Speaker 1: The Olympics doesn't offer prize money, so it was up

286
00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:28,280
Speaker 1: to the US Olympic Committee and the US Soccer Federation

287
00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:32,560
Speaker 1: to choose any financial reward for the American players. One

288
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,800
Speaker 1: piece of the contract US Soccer offered the women's team

289
00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,840
Speaker 1: financial bonuses only if you win gold. For the men,

290
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:47,040
Speaker 1: bonuses for gold, silver, or bronze. We had hit a

291
00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:50,240
Speaker 1: wall in terms of just enough is enough, like come on,

292
00:17:50,680 --> 00:17:53,280
Speaker 1: because there was just a level of disrespect we thought

293
00:17:53,280 --> 00:17:55,840
Speaker 1: too and that what we're asking for is not a lot.

294
00:17:56,400 --> 00:17:59,200
Speaker 1: Around that same time, Julie Faudy sat in the audience

295
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:01,600
Speaker 1: for a round table to discussion and heard a tennis

296
00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:04,399
Speaker 1: luminary talk about the barriers she had to overcome in

297
00:18:04,440 --> 00:18:07,040
Speaker 1: her own sport. The day it really changed was when

298
00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:09,880
Speaker 1: I met Billy Jane King in a function and I'm

299
00:18:09,920 --> 00:18:12,359
Speaker 1: listening to her and my jaw like hit the table.

300
00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:17,880
Speaker 1: Third match point for Billy Jane here, and I said

301
00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:22,119
Speaker 1: to her, holy sh it, that's our story. And I

302
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:25,320
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. And she's like, boud Ay,

303
00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:29,000
Speaker 1: you have the power. You as players. Get them together

304
00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:32,520
Speaker 1: and sorted out. And my mind was just like it

305
00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,399
Speaker 1: was like this epiphany. It was just spinning, and I

306
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:37,240
Speaker 1: got the team together and I was like, I was

307
00:18:37,280 --> 00:18:40,240
Speaker 1: just with Billy gen Kinge, we are not signing this,

308
00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:42,800
Speaker 1: and this is what we're gonna do. And that was

309
00:18:42,840 --> 00:18:47,800
Speaker 1: really the start to us saying no. That was the

310
00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:51,720
Speaker 1: start of our fight. Foudy, Acres and seven of the

311
00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,440
Speaker 1: other top players on the women's team all crossed out

312
00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:57,280
Speaker 1: those bonus clauses in their contracts and fax them back

313
00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:01,240
Speaker 1: to US Soccer. The nine players were immediately disinvited to

314
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,440
Speaker 1: the team's Olympic training camp. Whether that was a holdout

315
00:19:04,840 --> 00:19:06,560
Speaker 1: or a lockout is sort of in the eye of

316
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,400
Speaker 1: to the holder. We went on strike, and then we

317
00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:12,800
Speaker 1: had heavy hitters behind us in that Julie Jeane King's

318
00:19:12,880 --> 00:19:17,080
Speaker 1: wand and a few others stepped in and publicly on

319
00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:21,840
Speaker 1: our behalf. Here's Michelle Acres again. We wanted better hotel,

320
00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:26,520
Speaker 1: better travel. We were asking for the bare minimum of

321
00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:31,080
Speaker 1: giving us the chance to maximize our time together to

322
00:19:31,160 --> 00:19:36,000
Speaker 1: be the best in the world, and they said no. Largely,

323
00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,400
Speaker 1: players on the women's team were looking for an investment

324
00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,040
Speaker 1: from US Soccer that was equivalent to what the men got,

325
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:43,919
Speaker 1: but in one crucial way, they were also looking for

326
00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:48,159
Speaker 1: something different. Benefits from mothers. One of our players was

327
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:50,720
Speaker 1: a mom, so we needed a nanny for her when

328
00:19:50,760 --> 00:19:54,160
Speaker 1: we traveled, and we were a soccer called us greedys,

329
00:19:54,160 --> 00:19:57,119
Speaker 1: you know, And I still feel like that's kind of

330
00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:00,399
Speaker 1: an answer we women get today. Should be just grateful

331
00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,879
Speaker 1: for the opportunity and here take these little crowns and

332
00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:07,440
Speaker 1: then be happy for it and shut up. Voudy remembers

333
00:20:07,440 --> 00:20:10,200
Speaker 1: that US Soccer ultimately agreed to a contract that would

334
00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,520
Speaker 1: run through Players on the women's team would see their

335
00:20:13,560 --> 00:20:16,800
Speaker 1: salaries increase each of those years from about two thousand

336
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:23,359
Speaker 1: dollars a month to three thousand fifty per month, and

337
00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:26,680
Speaker 1: for those Olympics there would be gold and silver bonuses

338
00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,919
Speaker 1: measured similarly to what the men's team was offered. It

339
00:20:30,040 --> 00:20:32,520
Speaker 1: was scary. We had some players who were like, I

340
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,920
Speaker 1: don't know if I could do this, But what we

341
00:20:35,240 --> 00:20:38,199
Speaker 1: knew is that if we all did it together, they

342
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:41,959
Speaker 1: would have to cave because they wouldn't have a team.

343
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:44,320
Speaker 1: The nine holdouts soon joined the rest of the squad

344
00:20:44,359 --> 00:20:47,880
Speaker 1: in preparation for the upcoming games. That summer, the US

345
00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,400
Speaker 1: women's national team charged all the way to the Olympic

346
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:54,199
Speaker 1: gold medal match. There, they faced China in front of

347
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 1: more than seventy six thousand fans in Atlanta, at the time,

348
00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,040
Speaker 1: the largest crowd ever to attend to women sporting it,

349
00:21:02,480 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 1: and the US was victorious there too, winning the game

350
00:21:05,560 --> 00:21:08,520
Speaker 1: two to one and bringing home the first women's Olympic

351
00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:12,199
Speaker 1: gold and women's soccer. The men's team didn't make it

352
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:17,199
Speaker 1: out of the initial group stage. Acres remembers the toughest

353
00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:20,520
Speaker 1: competition the women's team faced wasn't on the field. US

354
00:21:20,600 --> 00:21:23,560
Speaker 1: Soccer caved and so you know, we got what we

355
00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 1: asked for again. It was like we shouldn't have been

356
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:30,080
Speaker 1: having to ask for it. Playing for the U s

357
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:34,480
Speaker 1: national team made you poor. It hurt. The mother on

358
00:21:34,520 --> 00:21:37,840
Speaker 1: that women's team was Joy Fawcett. Her teammates call her

359
00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:41,520
Speaker 1: the original soccer Mom, and Fawcett's experience struggling motherhood and

360
00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:45,600
Speaker 1: elite soccer has informed virtually every contract negotiation the women's

361
00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:48,679
Speaker 1: team has had since, and the standards that player moms

362
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:51,960
Speaker 1: like Jessica McDonald's you today. I've always wanted to be

363
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:54,920
Speaker 1: a mom, but I love soccer and I didn't know

364
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,320
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be playing this long. You'll hear from Fawcett

365
00:21:59,480 --> 00:22:11,000
Speaker 1: after the Fassi Gold next. By the time she retired,

366
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,800
Speaker 1: Joy Fawcett had won two Olympic Golds and two World Cups.

367
00:22:17,720 --> 00:22:21,280
Speaker 1: But back Fawcett lead a foundation that more than a

368
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,639
Speaker 1: dozen other national team players have followed since when she

369
00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,760
Speaker 1: became the first player mom in US soccer history. So

370
00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,000
Speaker 1: I went to Anson and was like, you know, I

371
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:35,280
Speaker 1: wanna have kids, but I'm not going to just leave

372
00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:37,400
Speaker 1: my kids at home. I wanted to be a part

373
00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,760
Speaker 1: of their lives. And so I said, hey, is it okay?

374
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:43,800
Speaker 1: Can I bring them along? And He's like, and he

375
00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:45,679
Speaker 1: just kind of laughed. He's like, you know, I know,

376
00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:49,480
Speaker 1: I can't talk you out of that. So sure, in

377
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,520
Speaker 1: May of ninety four, Joy and her husband Walter, welcome

378
00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:54,800
Speaker 1: the first of their three daughters. And I don't even

379
00:22:54,800 --> 00:22:56,960
Speaker 1: think you talked to anybody like how that would work,

380
00:22:57,080 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: or what that would look like, or maybe it was like,

381
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 1: even believe me, I don't know. Two months later, the

382
00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 1: US women's national team held a training camp in California.

383
00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:09,159
Speaker 1: Joy took the field. The hard thing was there was

384
00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:13,359
Speaker 1: no information whatsoever out there as to pregnant women train

385
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,240
Speaker 1: or running or anything. But it was always on your

386
00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:19,840
Speaker 1: mind to get back quickly. And that's why I came

387
00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,840
Speaker 1: back so quickly within eight weeks, because I did not

388
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,240
Speaker 1: want to lose my spot, you know, And that was

389
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:27,720
Speaker 1: my biggest fear, is taking that time off, that I

390
00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,880
Speaker 1: would lose my spot. Faucet told me that early on,

391
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,760
Speaker 1: motherhood presented some unique challenges on the field. I was

392
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 1: having issues breastfeeding because I didn't know anything about it.

393
00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:41,119
Speaker 1: When you run around a soccer viold, you have to

394
00:23:41,200 --> 00:23:44,120
Speaker 1: chest the ball, but it's not comfortable, so you feed

395
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 1: and then they deflate because they're empty, and then you

396
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 1: bind them with. All I had were socks, like my

397
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:53,640
Speaker 1: soccer socks. I time around ea chest so they wouldn't overfill,

398
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,959
Speaker 1: and so they would fill less and then it wouldn't

399
00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,800
Speaker 1: hurt so bad. Faucet not. He played her way back

400
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,600
Speaker 1: into the starting lineup. She joined her eight teammates in

401
00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 1: protesting the Olympic contract from US Soccer. That holdout was

402
00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:10,920
Speaker 1: the player's first move towards collective bargaining, and following the

403
00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 1: Olympic gold Fawcett and her teammates got proactive about what

404
00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,360
Speaker 1: their next contracts should look like. Acres and Foudy took

405
00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,680
Speaker 1: the lead. So I got a cold call from Michelle Acres.

406
00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:25,359
Speaker 1: She said, I play on the U S women's national team.

407
00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:30,520
Speaker 1: We won the nine Olympics, and you've been recommended to

408
00:24:30,640 --> 00:24:34,760
Speaker 1: us because of your familiarity with representing teams as well

409
00:24:34,800 --> 00:24:38,240
Speaker 1: as individuals. John Lingle as a retired partner at the

410
00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:41,159
Speaker 1: Ballard spar law firm in Philadelphia. She asked me if

411
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:44,920
Speaker 1: I talked to Julie. I said sure. Julie called me

412
00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: and she told me what they thought their rights were

413
00:24:48,960 --> 00:24:51,879
Speaker 1: with the World Cup Committee and with US Soccer, and

414
00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 1: told me that they thought their rights were not being recognized.

415
00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:01,040
Speaker 1: Langol had never represented female athletes before, but he sends

416
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,960
Speaker 1: quickly that US Soccer was not meeting its obligations under

417
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 1: the Amateur Sports Act. That's the federal legislation from that

418
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:11,359
Speaker 1: governs the U S Olympic Committee and all other national

419
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 1: governing bodies. What we thought we signed for the nine Olympics.

420
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,760
Speaker 1: We sent the contract to another lawyer, John Langele. He's like,

421
00:25:18,800 --> 00:25:20,359
Speaker 1: what do you think you have And I was like, well,

422
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:22,520
Speaker 1: we have these rights and we have this percentage and

423
00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:25,280
Speaker 1: he's like, no, you don't have any of that. None

424
00:25:25,320 --> 00:25:28,560
Speaker 1: of that is in this contract. It's like what that's

425
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,360
Speaker 1: what we were told Foudy Again, we said to him

426
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:34,640
Speaker 1: how much do you cost? We were still like ten

427
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 1: dollars a day, and so he goes, oh, no, no, no,

428
00:25:37,840 --> 00:25:40,200
Speaker 1: you won't have to pay for anything until I start

429
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:42,680
Speaker 1: making money for you. Then you can pay me eventually.

430
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: So we hired him in I believe, and that's when

431
00:25:48,160 --> 00:25:51,760
Speaker 1: we started to really make progress on equitable treatment. But

432
00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 1: he did all that work pro bono in the beginning

433
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,440
Speaker 1: because he was so surprised by really how things were

434
00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 1: when she first became a mom. False It says the

435
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:04,680
Speaker 1: players contracts hadn't even considered motherhood as a possibility. Um,

436
00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:07,920
Speaker 1: you know, soccer was great in the sense that they

437
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,320
Speaker 1: allowed me to do it. Unfortunately, it was hard in

438
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:14,000
Speaker 1: the beginning when we didn't make any money, and too,

439
00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:17,119
Speaker 1: I had to pay for everything extras, so I paid

440
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,600
Speaker 1: for the nanny to come and then I would pay

441
00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:23,080
Speaker 1: for my room, an extra room. That's just we felt

442
00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:26,560
Speaker 1: we deserved more, and you had to hold US Soccer accountable.

443
00:26:27,960 --> 00:26:30,760
Speaker 1: For the next few years, Langole negotiated with US Soccer

444
00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:33,840
Speaker 1: on a framework for the women's first collective bargaining agreement.

445
00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:38,000
Speaker 1: We built into the women's contracts if you're on the

446
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:41,480
Speaker 1: national team that you were going to have daycare. We

447
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: created pregnancy protections so that while she was out she

448
00:26:46,840 --> 00:26:49,320
Speaker 1: would receive her percentage of the contract. And I understand

449
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,880
Speaker 1: that percentage has now gone up, and when she came back,

450
00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:58,400
Speaker 1: she would be guaranteed her slot until the coach determined

451
00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:02,240
Speaker 1: that you wanted to go in another direction. Still, the

452
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:04,800
Speaker 1: back and forth dragged on. By the summer of nine,

453
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:07,800
Speaker 1: Langol hadn't yet hammered out a new contract between the

454
00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:11,920
Speaker 1: US players and US Soccer. But for the players, perhaps

455
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,800
Speaker 1: that was best. R Stanford Stadium a World Cup ninety

456
00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:18,359
Speaker 1: four men for the men and the women take Shetter

457
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:22,040
Speaker 1: stage today. Suddenly the eyes of the world were upon them,

458
00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:26,600
Speaker 1: as the US women hosted the World Cup. That tournament

459
00:27:26,600 --> 00:27:29,840
Speaker 1: culminated in a championship game that would redefine women soccer

460
00:27:29,840 --> 00:27:33,080
Speaker 1: in America. Can we write the contracts that shape it

461
00:27:33,119 --> 00:27:35,359
Speaker 1: to this day, the two very best teams in this

462
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,200
Speaker 1: World Cup going at it and in at least one case,

463
00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:40,639
Speaker 1: redirect the life of an eleven year old girl in

464
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,920
Speaker 1: a living room just a few hours east of where

465
00:27:42,960 --> 00:27:46,800
Speaker 1: that final would be played. This is the biggest game

466
00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:50,760
Speaker 1: and the lives of these USA players. We'll go behind

467
00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: the scenes of that World Cup final after the break.

468
00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 1: By the summer of the women's players were raising visibility

469
00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:07,160
Speaker 1: for the upcoming World Cup anyways they could. The year before,

470
00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,679
Speaker 1: we worked super hard to get the word out and

471
00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,520
Speaker 1: get the people in the stands and connect with the fans.

472
00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,240
Speaker 1: Joy Fawcett again. Everyone tried to put blocks up along

473
00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 1: the way. No, you guys should play in little stadiums,

474
00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:21,879
Speaker 1: you know, just so it looks full. You guys can't

475
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: feel a big stadium. We're like, yes we can. And

476
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: on July the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, is packed

477
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 1: with over ninety thousand fans, still the largest crowd ever

478
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:37,360
Speaker 1: for a woman's sporting event. The US and China play

479
00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,080
Speaker 1: nine scoreless minutes and thirty more minutes of scoreless sudden

480
00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:46,640
Speaker 1: death soccer. That's it. The winner I'll been's World Cup.

481
00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:54,400
Speaker 1: Almost the moment the penalty shot left Brandy Chastein's foot

482
00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,520
Speaker 1: the World Cup on the setch kick, she became an icon.

483
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,800
Speaker 1: Chesting ripped her jersey from her body and fell to

484
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: her knees. Her teammates rushed to her and Foudy tackle

485
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 1: Chesting to the ground. As that tournament rolled on, just

486
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:16,880
Speaker 1: seeing the interests grow and build and it became something

487
00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: that was in the mainstream. Here's Julie Foudy again. I

488
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:22,400
Speaker 1: still had a lot of women who come up to

489
00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:24,240
Speaker 1: me saying I was at that Rose Boar, I watched

490
00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:27,160
Speaker 1: that game and it inspired me to do this, and

491
00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:30,280
Speaker 1: that was really the dream. We had tremendous pride that

492
00:29:30,400 --> 00:29:32,880
Speaker 1: this was serving a lot of young girls in a

493
00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: positive way and could inspire them to do great things

494
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:41,040
Speaker 1: going forward. Years later, a statue of Chesting was unveiled

495
00:29:41,080 --> 00:29:45,040
Speaker 1: outside the Rose Bowl, a statue of a woman's soccer player.

496
00:29:45,760 --> 00:29:49,160
Speaker 1: The shockways from that World Cup final seemed almost unimaginable

497
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,520
Speaker 1: from where the national team started. That was the mentality.

498
00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:56,520
Speaker 1: It wasn't for us. Michelle Acres again, it was you know,

499
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:58,720
Speaker 1: our job, we felt to grow the game and to

500
00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,360
Speaker 1: cre ate something better for another group of players to

501
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:08,840
Speaker 1: step into our role and keep this movement growing Off

502
00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,760
Speaker 1: the field, Lawyer John Langle helped the women organize a

503
00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 1: private victory tour, independent of US Soccer oversight or financial involvement.

504
00:30:17,440 --> 00:30:21,080
Speaker 1: That independent tour paid each player roughly one thousand dollars,

505
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 1: giving them immediate financial security an even greater leverage for

506
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:29,000
Speaker 1: their ongoing contract negotiations with the federation. Without negotiating a

507
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:33,960
Speaker 1: new contract, the women's lives financially began to change. US

508
00:30:33,960 --> 00:30:36,880
Speaker 1: Soccer was furious that we did it threatened to sue US.

509
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:40,200
Speaker 1: Lango remembers bringing Foudy and Mia Hamm to meet with

510
00:30:40,240 --> 00:30:44,680
Speaker 1: representatives of US Soccer. We met for two days in Washington,

511
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:49,040
Speaker 1: d C. And US Soccer blinked. Foudy remembers it a

512
00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:53,840
Speaker 1: bit more colorfully. It got really heated, to the point

513
00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:58,280
Speaker 1: of Mia and myself basically telling the federation they could

514
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: go at themselves. And Me had turned to me and said,

515
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:03,600
Speaker 1: I've had a great career, Jules, we just won a

516
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,960
Speaker 1: World Cup. I'd be fine with retiring now. And I

517
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:08,840
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, me too. I mean, this has been

518
00:31:08,880 --> 00:31:13,320
Speaker 1: a good ride for us. And basically we finally had

519
00:31:13,360 --> 00:31:17,840
Speaker 1: a little bit of leverage to get things done. In

520
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: early two thousand, the players signed a deal that guaranteed

521
00:31:20,680 --> 00:31:24,080
Speaker 1: them more income, plus bonuses for making the Olympic team,

522
00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:27,920
Speaker 1: as well as bonuses for winning tournaments. In absolute dollars,

523
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 1: the deal was in the ballpark of what the US

524
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 1: men earned from the federation, but the structure of the

525
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:36,160
Speaker 1: women's contract was dramatically different, a fact that would loom

526
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: large and future negotiations. In particular, the US men earned

527
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:42,960
Speaker 1: most of their soccer income from their various professional club

528
00:31:43,000 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: teams throughout the year. For them, playing for the US

529
00:31:45,920 --> 00:31:49,520
Speaker 1: team was just gravy, so the men's contract with federation

530
00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:51,920
Speaker 1: only paid them by the game when they played with

531
00:31:51,960 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 1: the national team. But in two thousand, there was no

532
00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 1: ongoing soccer league for women and no guaranteed money for

533
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: them outside of the team, so the women negotiated a

534
00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,080
Speaker 1: year round salaries from the federation. We had a goal

535
00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: when we started negotiating to give them guaranteed salaries so

536
00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,920
Speaker 1: that women didn't have to have second third jobs and

537
00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:20,080
Speaker 1: that a core of women, let's call it, would be

538
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: paid a sufficient amount of money benefits so that they

539
00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 1: could be full time soccer players. That was the goal

540
00:32:29,520 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: of the two thousand negotiations. US Soccer would spearhead the

541
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: formation of a new women's professional soccer league to begin

542
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 1: play in two thousand one. With that, a playing field

543
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,720
Speaker 1: was set by legends of the game. We're impacting young

544
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 1: women and girls all over the world, including a young

545
00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,400
Speaker 1: girl from Glendale, Arizona, who was finding her passion for

546
00:32:54,520 --> 00:33:00,440
Speaker 1: the game. They all loved Definite again and on part

547
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: two of Payback, I use sport as this coping mechanism

548
00:33:05,320 --> 00:33:09,440
Speaker 1: because I hated being home. It's pretty safe area. Now,

549
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:14,160
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool not to hit no gunshots. She happened

550
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,960
Speaker 1: to be at soccer field one day and she was

551
00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 1: just smashing balls into the net. From that moment, I

552
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:21,880
Speaker 1: was like, nobody will ever be able to stop this

553
00:33:21,920 --> 00:33:25,000
Speaker 1: girl and anything she does athletically. Thank god for sport.

554
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,920
Speaker 1: Thank god I had that ability to play. That was

555
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:33,560
Speaker 1: my escape, that was all I had. I'm Alexandrea. Payback

556
00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 1: is a production of The Charlotte Observer, Raleigh News and Observer,

557
00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,680
Speaker 1: McClatchy Studios, and I Heeart Radio. It's produced by Cotta Stevens,

558
00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:45,520
Speaker 1: Casey Top, Julia Wall, and Davin Coburn. The executive producer

559
00:33:45,600 --> 00:33:48,880
Speaker 1: for iHeart Radio is Sean ty Toone. For lots more

560
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 1: on this story and to support journalism like this, visit

561
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:55,600
Speaker 1: Charlotte observer dot com slash payback or news observer dot

562
00:33:55,680 --> 00:34:01,040
Speaker 1: com slash payback. And for more podcasts from my heart Radio,

563
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:05,160
Speaker 1: visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

564
00:34:05,200 --> 00:34:08,279
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows. H