US women's team files wage-discrimination suit vs. US Soccer

— -- Five members of the US women's national soccer team -- including Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan -- have filed on behalf of the entire team a wage-discrimination action against the US Soccer Federation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The filing, citing figures from the USSF's 2015 financial report, says that despite the women's team generating nearly $20 million more revenue last year than the US men's team, the women are paid almost four times less.

"Recently, it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work," said Megan Rapinoe in a press release, after also attaching her name to the filing along with Becky Sauerbrunn.

The action was filed by the law firm of Winston & Strewn and its co-chairman Jeffrey Kessler, who has represented numerous players' unions and athletes -- including Tom Brady and Ray Rice -- in disputes with professional leagues and organizations.

"In early January, the Women's National Team Players Association submitted a reasonable proposal for a new CBA that had equal pay for equal work as its guiding principal," said Kessler. "US Soccer responded by suing the players in an effort to keep in place the discriminatory and unfair treatment they have endured for years."

US Soccer, fearing that the women's team would strike ahead of this year's Olympics, last month said it "reluctantly" filed suit in a Chicago federal court to "confirm the existence" of a collective bargaining agreement with the union representing the US women's team.

Among the numbers cited in the EEOC filing are that the women would earn $99,000 each if they won 20 friendlies, the minimum number they are required to play in a year. But the men would likely earn $263,320 each for the same feat, and would get $100,000 even if they lost all 20 games. Additionally, the women get paid nothing for playing more than 20 games, while the men get between $5,000 and $17,625 for each game played beyond 20.

Also greatly disparate, according to the figures, is the pay for playing in the World Cup. The US women received a team total of $2 million when it won the World Cup last year in Canada. Yet when the US men played in the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, the team earned a total of $9 million despite going just 1-2-1 and being knocked out in the Round of 16.

"We are the best in the world, have three World Cup Championships, four Olympic Championships, and the (men) get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships," Solo said.

Morgan added that the players are seeking more than just fair compensation.

"We want to play in top-notch, grass-only facilities like the US Men's National Team," Morgan said. "We want to have equitable and comfortable travel accommodations and we simply want equal treatment."

The EEOC will conduct an investigation and determine if its findings warrant compensation to the US women's team.