St. Louis soccer star and World Cup winner Lori Lawson cheers equal pay breakthrough

Over Lori Lawson’s 15-year career in professional soccer, she saw the sport’s highest highs — winning a World Cup and an Olympic gold medal — but endured both lower pay and shoddier conditions than her male counterparts.

However, last week, the world of American soccer changed forever with the unveiling of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s new collective bargaining agreements with the men’s and women’s leagues. The agreement equalizes pay and bonuses across the leagues, including the sharing of World Cup bonus money across genders.

“This is a long time coming,” Lawson said on Monday’s St. Louis on the Air. “This is years and years of hard work.”

A St. Louis native, Lawson has indeed spent years advocating to end the pay disparity within the sport, something that she faced firsthand after helping the U.S. win a World Cup in 2015.

That year, a World Cup win for the women’s team meant a bonus of around $2 million. But the winning men’s team, Germany, took in $35 million. At the time, Lawson says she felt “very conflicted” about the pay disparity, as she and her teammates were celebrating the culmination of their efforts to reach the pinnacle of their sport – while also feeling shorted by it.