Sources: Ellis got equal pay settlement from USSF

Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentOct 25, 2024, 04:22 PM ET

Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.Following the U.S. Soccer Federation’s settlement of an equal pay lawsuit with players from the U.S. women’s national team in 2022, the organization reached a second, previously undisclosed financial settlement with former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis, who had threatened litigation over being paid less than her men’s national team counterparts, multiple sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.

The settlement came in the wake of USWNT players settling their equal pay lawsuit against the USSF in February 2022 for $24 million. Three months later, the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association, the union that represents USWNT players, successfully negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the USSF in which the players were paid equitably with those on the USMNT.

Around this time, Ellis threatened to sue the USSF if it didn’t compensate her further for her time as head coach of the USWNT, which lasted from 2014 to 2019 and included two World Cup titles.

Sources told ESPN that there was resistance among some members of the board of directors to reach a settlement with Ellis, especially given that after her resignation as USWNT coach, Ellis was paid a total of $442,598 by the USSF to be an “Ambassador/Former Key Employee,” according to a USSF tax filing for the 2021 fiscal year.

But, sources said, a desire to avoid another public battle over equal pay — in this case with a highly respected and successful coach — as well as the fact that insurance paid for some of the settlement, carried the day.

Sources told ESPN that in spring 2022, the USSF board authorized its legal representatives to settle for upwards of $1 million. Another source told ESPN that the final settlement exceeded $1 million, though because of the confidential nature of the settlement, there is no explicit record of a payment to Ellis in the federation’s IRS Form 990 for the 2023 fiscal year. Multiple sources indicated that the settlement amount was included in line items related to the USSF’s legal expenses.

The following year, Ellis assumed the role of president with the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.

A U.S. Soccer spokesperson told ESPN, “We don’t discuss employment matters.” Ellis had no comment.

That Ellis made considerably less than her male counterparts during her time as USWNT coach is not in dispute. For the 2020 fiscal year, which covered the period from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, Ellis made $746,623 in total compensation, with her base pay amounting to $516,352. She also made a $202,000 bonus for leading the USWNT to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the second World Cup triumph overseen by Ellis.

In contrast, for the 2020 fiscal year, then-USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter received $1,329,492 in total compensation, with $1,222,710 of that in base pay.

The disparity was even more pronounced at the beginning of Ellis’ tenure. For the 2016 fiscal year that ran from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016 — a period that coincided with her first Women’s World Cup triumph — Ellis’ total compensation was $327,332, which included a $90,000 bonus.

Over the same period, then-USMNT head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s total compensation was $3,076,594. Klinsmann also occupied the position of U.S. Soccer technical director during this period.

The extent to which the settlement with Ellis had a ripple effect on subsequent negotiations with national team coaches is unclear. The IRS Form 990 for the 2024 fiscal year, the final year in which Vlatko Andonovski served as USWNT coach, has yet to be released. The 2023 fiscal year saw his total compensation reach $448,485.

Forbes has reported that current USWNT coach Emma Hayes’s salary is around $1.6 million, similar to what Berhalter made during the most recent year of his contract. According to the USSF’s most recent IRS Form 990, during the 2023 fiscal year, Berhalter made $2.3 million, which included a $900,000 bonus for qualifying the USMNT to the 2022 World Cup.

One USSF source said Hayes’ compensation was what was required to pry her away from Chelsea of England’s Women’s Super League. But other sources, all of whom asked to remain anonymous because they weren’t authorized to discuss federation compensation matters publicly, said the Ellis settlement had an effect on the negotiations.

The issue of compensation of national team managers came up again in the wake of Mauricio Pochettino’s hiring as USMNT head coach last month.

Sources told ESPN that Pochettino’s base salary will be $6 million per year, with private donors picking up some of that amount. Chelsea will also be paying Pochettino a little over half of the $14 million he was owed for the remainder of his contract when he left the Premier League club earlier this year.

This has led to questions about whether Hayes’ compensation would be adjusted to match Pochettino’s. But multiple federation sources told ESPN that this isn’t the case. There is neither a federation bylaw nor a board policy requiring the USMNT and USWNT coaches to be paid the same.

As for Ellis, while she remains in her role as president of the Wave, she currently finds herself at the center of a separate legal matter involving her tenure with the club.

In July, following accusations of creating a toxic work environment, Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit against Brittany Alvarado, the team’s former video and creative manager. This was followed by a lawsuit filed by five former Wave employees against the club and the NWSL alleging multiple forms of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. Ellis is not named as a defendant in the new lawsuit, although she is mentioned throughout.