Pay Women Athletes the Compensation They're Due

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Pay Women Athletes the Compensation They’re Due
PUBLISHED 9/19/2024 by Michelle Simpson Tuegel and Emma Steigerwald

As we continue to push for gender equality in sports, NIL payments are a significant milestone, providing female athletes the opportunity to exponentially grow their brand and their sport.



A Caitlin Clark Gatorade ad on display at the J.W. Marriott Hotel after the Washington Mystics at Indiana Fever game on July 10, 2024, in Indianapolis. (Brian Spurlock / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The fight for gender equality in sports remains a long, arduous journey. As former athletes and now advocates for women and girls, we have personally experienced the sexism that continues to persist in sports. The retroactive NIL (name, image and likeness) payments for former and current athletes included in the pending NCAA legal settlement would represent a new chapter in this battle by offering female athletes a chance to finally be compensated for their contributions to their sports and the universities they represented. While we come from different sporting backgrounds—Division I soccer and professional waterskiing—we have both experienced the inequality and gender discrimination synonymous with women’s sports: chiefly, less recognition and appreciation, no matter what we accomplished.

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One way we continue this fight is by seeking back pay for female college athletes who were denied the opportunity to capitalize on their name recognition and visibility prior to the new NIL rules. Under the pending NCAA settlement, Division I schools and conferences would help fund $2.8 billion that is owed to thousands of former and current student-athletes over a 10-year window. While this is a step forward, the current settlement under-compensates women’s NIL payments because they are allocated based on historic sports revenues. Nearly all women aside from a few select basketball players would be paid around $125, while thousands of male football players and basketball players would be paid over $100,000.


South Carolina Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley at an event to celebrate the 2023-2024 University of South Carolina Gamecocks Women’s Basketball NCAA championship team in the East Room at the White House on Sept. 10, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Gamecocks ended their season undefeated. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

These unfair payments are based on men’s sports’ revenue that has benefited from a long history of discriminatory practices. While Title IX requires schools to spend equal promotional resources on men’s and women’s sports, we know that has not happened in many contexts, leading to less attention, viewership and financial opportunity for women’s sports and women athletes. For the retroactive payments to be fair and for this settlement to be a true turning point in the way all athletes are treated, these women deserve far higher payments that are in line with Title IX and illustrate their capabilities when properly promoted. Many former athletes missed out on the benefits of the new NCAA NIL rules, but we hope that through our legal expertise and these back pay settlements, we can help them recover compensation and recognition for their hard work, dedication and talent.

While it’s heartening to see women’s sports gaining more national attention and recognition, the fight is far from over. As we continue to push for gender equality in sports, NIL payments are a significant milestone. By addressing the injustices of the past and ensuring that female athletes have the same opportunities as male athletes, we can work toward a future where all athletes are rewarded for their contributions to their sports, regardless of gender.

https://msmagazine.com/2024/09/19/women-athletes-sports-ncaa-settlement-nil-name-image-likeness-equal-pay/