US Women's Soccer Team Files Wage-Discrimination Suit Against US Soccer

The United States women's national soccer team filed a wage-discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation on Thursday in a push for equal pay.  

According to ESPN.com, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Becky Sauerbrunn attached their names to the suit after a 2015 financial report found that U.S. women's players made close to four times less than U.S. men's players despite having generated almost $20 million more in revenue last year.

Sauerbrunn revealed on Twitter that the decision to file the suit was made by the entire team:

The US Soccer Federation released an official response, tweeted by Jeff Carlisle of ESPN:

Solo was among those who commented on the USWNT's decision to take legal action on NBC's Today on Thursday, per ESPN.com:

"

I've been on this team for a decade and a half, and I've been through numerous CBA negotiations, and honestly, not much has changed. We continue to be told we should be grateful just to have the opportunity to play professional soccer, to get paid for doing it.

In this day and age, it's about equality. It's about equal rights. It's about equal pay. We're pushing for that. We believe now the time is right because we believe it's our responsibility for women's sports and specifically for women's soccer to do whatever it takes to push for equal pay and equal rights. And to be treated with respect.

"

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton weighed in on the lawsuit:

Winston & Strawn co-chairman Jeffrey Kessler—who is representing the USWNT—suggested the case is a difficult one, per a tweet from Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl:

He was also frank in his assessment of the USSF and where it stands in relation to similar cases in the past, per Andrew Das of the New York Times:

US Soccer lawyer Russell Sauer responded to the news later on Thursday, via Wahl: "USSF never gave US women's players any indication that we would not pay them equally to US men's players."

USSF President Sunil Gulati also responded, via Wahl: "Revenue generation 'absolutely part of the equation' for player pay."

As seen in this graphic, courtesy of NWSL and MLS analyst Danny Page, the numbers show that the United States women's team has been far more profitable than the men's of late:

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#USWNT & #USMNT game revenues USSF starting to see them as equals in budget. But not equal with the paycheck? 樂 pic.twitter.com/UCyhMfBCG7

— Danny Page (@DannyPage) March 31, 2016"

Everton goalkeeper and USMNT international Tim Howard, who is joining the Colorado Rapids in the summer, supported the women's call for equal pay, per SportsCenter (via Joe Prince-Wright of NBC Sports):

"

We support the fact that the women should fight for their rights and fight what they think is just compensation. We, on the men’s side, have been fighting that battle for a long, long time and we certainly know what it feels like. We felt underpaid for a long time and we had to negotiate our way to a settlement.

"

Former USA international striker Landon Donovan questioned the argument:

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Both #USMNT and #USWNT should be paid commensurate w/ the revenues they produce, not based upon what the other makes https://t.co/Di7yUzf4Te

— Landon Donovan (@landondonovan) March 31, 2016"

The USWNT is the most dominant squad in women's soccer and is coming off a FIFA World Cup win in 2015.

While the men's team managed to make it out of the group stage at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, it continues to struggle when it comes to reaching the upper echelon on the international stage.

Team USA has won gold in women's soccer at each of the past three Olympic Games and is likely to make it four in a row this summer in Rio de Janeiro.

It is unclear at this point if the USWNT's decision to take action against the USSF puts its participation in any type of jeopardy, but it could have a massive platform to further its cause if it is still playing under the current conditions during the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.