#shebelieves – for the week.

Though I was only able to include one photo, I’ve linked both sites for this post. I choose them because they’re the official post of the official team pages for the soccer team on the day the 28 members announced their lawsuit against the USSF. Neither official page announces the news however. Rather, they endorsed the team through the hashtag #internationalwomensday, along with, promoting a special summit called she believes. To this day, June 1st, neither official page has made any mention to the case. I continue with my pessimism and reason this a purposeful action. My evidence is the week-long celebration of the summit, until the release of the USSF’s response to the team’s grievances, which nearly went completely under the radar. While the players are out speaking up, the organization is keeping any mention of it to the bare minimum. Not simply just by limiting the circulation of information, but also painting the team as heroes, worthy of the public praise, as distraction from what’s going on behind the scenes. Since the announcement, a carefree team has been propagandized across both platforms. Timelines are full of highlights, player interactives, countdowns, reward recognition, schedule updates, etc. Besides the players’ stance, the appearance from the outside in, is nothing is wrong.

Link: https://twitter.com/USWNT/status/1104131281959424001

Link 2: https://www.instagram.com/p/BuwDArog2oW/

Apps not Suits

As I pointed out in “700 for the ball,” major news outlet neglected to cover the USWNT’s lawsuit against the country’s athlete body. Conversely, Fox News found a mediation app’s use to improve player competitiveness as the next big break. The logic to do such seems a bit twisted in my opinion. Fox highlights a partnership that is supposedly going to help the number team in the world, but never mentions the team’s dissonance with the federation. The article hypes up the partnership with loaded comments, convoluted with references to medical research, which isn’t cited. Fox’s article claim’s that the agreement for the interview was by USSF’s Director of High Performance, James Bunce, to inform them of the advancements being made by the federation. Once again, if the federation and the media outlets are easy to reach for communicating apps and ‘mental health’, why is there still silence on the team’s activism for women empowerment? Doesn’t a movement to empower women beneficial to their ‘mental health; if promoting ‘mental health’ was the true motive, then I expect the struggles of the team to be highlighted as well. I enjoy a good conspiracy, and it appears easy to assume some type of partnership between the federation and the major news outlets to keep the federation’s issues out of the mainstream. Or, at least, it’s more interesting to contemplate.

Link: https://www.foxnews.com/sports/us-womens-national-team-turns-to-app-to-maintain-competitive-advantage-heading-into-world-cup

Adidas Opportunity

Everything is glorious correct? A leader in sports is offering to up the bonuses for success of women to the standards of their men counterparts. Equality at last! Well, not exactly; I’m pessimistic about the intent behind the company’s gesture. Though Adidas announced their decision to increase the funds for the payouts to the FIFA champions, the intent can be questioned due to timing. Interesting, to me at least, is that the entire team, of the favorites to win the title, announces a lawsuit against inequality in pay, then the sponsor of the event decides to match salaries for winners. If Adidas had come out with this news before the USNWT announcement, then it could be seen as a true maneuver to “breaking barriers” that is claimed. I see it two other ways however: one, the company saw an opportunity to be the first athletic institution to appear to back the women’s movement for equal pay; and two, if predicted the world leading team, which is engaged against their own organizing body for mistreatment, is very likely to engage with the most prestigious women’s soccer event next. The likeliness can be deduced from Rapinoe’s criticism of FIFA’s pay structure months later, weeks before the start of the Adidas’s sponsored event.

Link: http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/26815264/rapinoe-critical-fifa-unequal-prize-money

Rapinoe critical of FIFA over unequal prize money

I choose to highlight this article for multitude of reasons. First, the headline connects the issues of the USWNT with the USSF, to the global battle with inequality for women in soccer. Mid way through the article there is a paragraph referencing the case. Second, due to the closeness of the release of the article to the World Cup, I found this criticism a foreshadowing of what’s to come during the entire month of June. Third, Rapinoe was place into a better light, than what was posted on Fox. This article highlights her activism, and courage to stand for honest change; whereas, Fox made her appear unpatriotic, almost unworthy of representing America’s team. Fourthly, the cold hard numbers to back Rapinoe’s claims of unequal investment. Its finical investment breakdown of tournaments, by sex, solidifies the incremental actions comment she makes about FIFA. Lastly, it enlighten me of the conflicts of tournament scheduling for the upcoming month. Whereas, in the summers of the men’s tournament, there aren’t other major tournaments competing for attention, this summer’s women’s tournament wasn’t given such an allowance. Rapinoe alerts to FIFA consistent behavior of packaging major women championships with minors of the men. FIFA’s response of a possible increase in viewership for such conflicts, demonstrated their prioritization of finical gains over promotion of women athletic excellence.

Link: http://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/26815264/rapinoe-critical-fifa-unequal-prize-money

99er’s Reaction Clip

The 1999 USWNT is credited with many things, one was activism for better treatment of all women athletes, professional down to the kiddie leagues. So I find their opinions and reactions to the current 2019 team’s activism as validated. I was interested in knowing from their perspectives, because they’ve lived in and thrived in that situation. To them, it’s the same fight, one which appears to be for a natural right, the right of equality. Excited. United. Exhausted. Three words that summarized their feelings towards the movement started so long ago. There’s the excitement that stems from pride, a proudness for the new representatives of the team and their continued forward thinking and proactivity. Within this cloud of distress, it’s this unity, of the 2019 team altogether suing the federation, along with the palms on their shoulders from the ‘99 team, which creates a sense of strength in numbers. However, the interview was dominated by one word; by one mood; such efforts have, over such an extend period of time, been ‘exhausting’. The federation’s lack towards the welfare of one of the nation’s most successful national teams, in an era of supposed progression, is surprising and thus frustrating. It begs the question, if the ’99 team views the battle of the ’19 team as a recycling of their battle, has the federation really done what it could and should to develop the women’s side of the sport of soccer, as they’ve claim to do?

Link: https://twitter.com/espnW/status/1129169659079606272

President Carlos Cordeiro and USSF Statement

Today, we’re in a society where when accusations are made publicly, a response publicly is typical of the accused. My interest lies there, within the USSF’s response.

Structurally, it’s PR control. The lawsuit was filed against the USSF on March 8, 2019, whereas, this response comes an entire week after on March 15, 2019. It begins by asserting a noble position, one of a caring and willing hand. This is the opposite of how the Federation is depicted in the suit. The Federation states the investment it has made, continues to make, and its evidence for such efforts: the CBA from two years ago. Thus, since ‘peace’ was made so long ago, such complaints now are “surprising,” or for lack of a better word, unnecessary. The remaining half of the letter addresses the ‘proactive approach’ of the USSF, as an attempt to position it as an honest and open party. I found the ending funny, as it appears an attempt to bury the issues of the team, beneath the headlines of the world cup. It’s as if the president and the organization is claiming that equality in the sport is second to a sporting event they’re bound to makes lots of money on. Personally, I thought it a pretty letter used to buy time for the construction of a defense for possible court trail.

Link to Article: https://www.si.com/soccer/2019/03/15/us-soccer-president-letter-surprised–uswnt-lawsuit

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700 for the ball

As I catenate the media on the United States Women’s National Soccer Team’s lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation, I believe it best I address my biases beforehand. When, in sports, there is an issue between a team, player, or organization, I’m predisposed to side with the player(s). I endorse empowerment; which includes empowerment in the realm of sport, where individual bodies are deemed expendable. Also, I believe the USSF has underachieved in the promotion of the Women’s team despite their undeniable success. I’ve observed the investments into the underwhelming Men’s national team, accumulating into mediocre success. I feel the lawsuit is warranted; thus my decision to follow this story was see how the public would receive it. To my surprise, when limited to the span of this assignment, there has been a limited scope in discussion on the topic. For qualification, there was a sufficient circulation of news on the case; however, the information exhibited redundant tendencies. Additionally, as will be expounded upon in short, the lack of “national” coverage on the case is a bit suspicious.

In particular, when focused on the social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter) for the USWNT, there were absolutely no official post addressing the team’s lawsuit against the USSF. Nothing. In the case of Instagram, the post were typically images from practices, highlights endorsements, or player interactive. On March 8^th, the account hash-tagged, “happy International Women’s Day,” with images of the team. There wasn’t, and still hasn’t been a word on the lawsuit on the account. Twitter is no different. The account has done two video series involving the players, promoting them and the road to the world cup. There is a timeline of highlights, information on endorsement deals, and rewards for player recognition. Similarly, as with the Instagram account, it references International Women’s Day, by further endorsing a special summit planned for the next day. For the next few days this summit would dominate the timeline. In both cases, the PR team appears to deliberately withhold from enlightening their fan base of the ensuring case. Instead, the topic reverts back to on field performances and the world cup tune-ups. A week after the team’s lawsuit filing, the USSF sent out a note on its social media account addressing the case. A week is a decent amount of time to formulate a formal PR response.

This deliberateness, I felt rung heavier when pieced to sphere of major news. I followed Fox’s coverage, as well as, CBS’s. I’ll start with the latter first, as it’s the shortest. CBS had one news article on the team: a podcast interview with Alex and Megan speaking on their case. Though the podcast allows the players a platform to explain their cause, it isn’t given day time video coverage. The interview was posted on March 11^th, and as today sits the 1^stof June, CBS has investigated none. As for Fox, they surely out did CBS by a bunch, coming in with a decent dozen articles referencing the Women’s team this year. In terms of the lawsuit, and the time period of the class, only a handful were within appropriate range. I first state that Fox did not cover anything related to the lawsuit. Nonetheless, it was what had gotten coverage and their headlines that drew my attention. Fox found it not necessary to address the lawsuit, however, did make light of an endorsement deal signed for the women’s team with headspace, a mental stimulus app. Beyond that two headlines read, “Alex Morgan plans to decline any white house invite,” and, “Megan Rapinoe says she will probably never sing the national anthem again.” It’s interesting how out of context the headlines are, as well as, the negative imagery it formulates. When read out of context, it appears that American players on the National American team are unpatriotic, “disrespecting” the top office of the nation, and the song representing its independence. Doesn’t appear major news companies found the lawsuit important or warrant in my opinion.

On a positive note, two publications, ESPNW, and Sports Illustrate, elevated the action of the team as important to the future of sports, and more specifically, women sports. Sport Illustrate was the more consistent of the two, bringing light to the situation through publications; interviews, video post, and repost of other’s insight. Espn W on the other hand, was my introduction into the case. The site had a very detailed article of the motives and implications of the case. Unfortunately, the biggest stage, the world cup, doesn’t start until the second week of June. I expect the players to advocate during the tournament as the defending champions, and a more expansive and honest dialogue on their mission.