Money is respect. For too long, a U.S. women’s soccer player opened a paycheck that told her she was cut-rate merchandise. It called her gold medals cheap.
Finally, the American women’s national team members will be properly valued as the national treasures that they are. The new “identical compensation” deal for the USA’s soccer teams — negotiated in mutual agreement with their American male counterparts — will pay the women equal salaries and World Cup bonuses. It’s a revolutionary deal, and that’s only fitting, because it took a revolt to get here. Don’t ever forget how hard it was to win such a basic contract.