Hope Solo loves attention, and these comments certainly didn’t hurt. Hope talked with the panel Tuesday at Hashtag Sports in New York City, and voiced her opinion on how to grow soccer back up from the ground.
“The average cost for soccer right now in the United States is $15,000 per year,” Solo says. “That obviously alienates so many communities, including the Hispanic communities, the black communities, the rural communities and under-represented communities. Soccer, right now, has become a rich white kid sport. You have to look at why have our U.S. men not qualified for the World Cup? And it goes back to our youth system. And it’s because we are alienating so much talent in the youth system, and it breaks my heart because these kids are passionate about the game and they are filled with great skill, yet they’re being told if you don’t have the money, you can’t represent your country.”
"My family would not have been able to afford to put me in soccer if I was a young kid today"
– @hopesolo #HS18 pic.twitter.com/vR6sV1qLDA— Hashtag Sports (@HashtagSports) June 26, 2018
She even filed a wage complaint against US Soccer.
“U.S. Soccer just released their financials,” Solo says. “It’s clear and obvious they pay the women less than the men and it’s discrimination based off of sex. We have the same job title, same employer. It’s pretty clear cut and dry, however, when you push anything through the court system, it takes a long time. It takes three to five years, so I’m hoping within the next five years, you’re going to see a precedent case where we will finally have women athletes being paid equally to men. And I truly believes it’s going to happen.”
Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan are the other players who filed the complaint. Good luck.
