The duo noted that not only does it lead to better terms in contracts and CBAs, but it also helps elevate the national profile of the entire sport.Īlso Read: Barbara Boxer: My Grandma 'Came to America in a Caravan of a Ship' (Video) And last year, the women currently playing on the national team followed King’s example again when they successfully pushed for a new collective bargaining agreement that ensured another pay increase and further investment in the women’s game.įoudy, along with fellow ESPN “SportsCenter” co-host Cari Champion, said that following King’s example is essential in the push for equality in sports, specifically praising her ability to encourage her fellow athletes to find strength in numbers. Soccer Federation, leading to better coverage and marketing for the team as it has gone on to win two more World Cups in 19. The result was a unified USWNT, comprised of women soccer players who stood up for better wages and treatment from the U.S. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is us!– with what you did breaking away and unifying all these women to form the Women’s Tennis Association.’ And she literally came up to me and said ‘Wake up, Foudy! You’re the one that’s going to have to do this!’ So I ran back to the team and I yelled, ‘Guys, listen! We can’t sign this contract! Billie Jean said!” “And then I met Billie and she told her story, and I just sat there and absorbed it all. “We were getting $10 a day when we started, and we were just excited to be on the national team, but in the ’90s we started realizing, ‘Hey, we’re proud to be playing for our national team but it doesn’t seem right that we’re staying in roach motels and taking hotel shuttles to a game,'” the former team captain told TheWrap’s Debbie Emery at the Power Women’s Summit in Los Angeles.Īlso Read: Anita Hill Vows to Do What the Government Won't: 'The Down and Dirty Work of Changing Culture' It was then that she heard King tell the story of how she founded the Women’s Tennis Association and her struggle for equal pay in tennis. Soccer Federation was getting ready to offer a new contract to Foudy and her teammates. Women’s National Team (USWNT) won their first FIFA World Cup, the U.S. Back in the mid 1990s, not long after the U.S. Retired soccer player and ESPN color analyst Julie Foudy remembers when former tennis star Billie Jean King changed her life for the better.
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