It’s a New Era For U.S. Women’s Soccer. And Cindy Parlow Cone Is In Charge

Becoming the first woman in charge of the U.S. Soccer Federation—the governing body of U.S. women’s soccer and employer of Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and the rest of the World Cup–winning U.S. Women’s National Team—would be big news at any point in time. But in this particular moment—after players from the USWNT sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination; after the Federation hired lobbyists to argue the women weren’t really underpaid; after negotiations over equal pay fell through; after court documents filed by U.S. Soccer claimed the women’s team players don’t possess the same skill or responsibility as the men—it feels like the start of a new era.

After the disastrous contents of the court documents went public in March, U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro abruptly resigned, and Cindy Parlow Cone, the VP of U.S. Soccer and a former long-time player on the National Team, suddenly found herself in the spotlight just as the fight over equal pay is coming to a head. “I’m not gonna lie—it was like feeding from 10 firehoses at once,” she says. “It wasn’t just, ‘Okay, you’re assuming the presidency’; it was, ‘You’re assuming the presidency in the middle of a pandemic, the entire sports world is shut down, your country is shutting down, and financially we don’t know where we’re headed.’ So there was a lot coming at me in a very short period.”

Then, of course, there’s the very high-profile gender discrimination litigation that feels so much bigger than members of the women’s team vs. U.S. Soccer. The lawsuit is complicated, but it boils down to this: The U.S. Men’s National Team and the USWNT have different contract structures, which give the men’s players the opportunity to earn bigger performance bonuses and the women’s players a more steady income. Despite the fact that the USWNT has a much more successful record than the men’s team, they’ve made only a fraction of what they could have made were they given the chance to earn the same level of prize money.

The lawsuit is about more than just money, however. The players of the USWNT allege their employer has committed other forms of gender discrimination: unequal training conditions and even unequal travel arrangements. In May a federal judge dismissed the team’s wage discrimination claims—though the players say they plan to appeal—but their claims about unequal support and travel are scheduled to be heard in court in September.

Parlow Cone hopes it doesn’t come to that. “As a former player, I think I kind of look at this in a little different light than maybe some others have,” she says. “My goal is to come to a resolution.”

Parlow Cone played for the USWNT from 1995 to 2006, playing in three Olympics and two World Cups as part of the famed ’99 squad that included Mia Hamm and Brandi Chastain. That team ushered in a “new era of success for women’s football” but the players were still fighting for equality. Eventually it drove Cone to run for vice president. “I felt like we needed a player’s voice in the room when important decisions were being made,” she says. “We were complaining about things being this way or that way but not really engaging at this level to become a part of the solution.”

We asked Parlow Cone about her ideal solution to the claims of gender discrimination, the future of women’s sports, and the new era for U.S. women’s soccer.

Glamour: With the pending fight for equal pay, stepping into this role feels particularly significant. What was your mindset like going into the job?

Cindy Parlow Cone: Well, as you know, I became president quite suddenly and started my presidency with our country and sports starting to shut down due to the pandemic. We had to let employees go and cut programming, which is a difficult time for any organization.

As for the pending litigation, I think my experience being a long-term member of the USWNT definitely informs my approach. I continue to want to sit down with our women’s team and find a way to forge a positive path forward.

What do you see as your most pressing priority as president?

First we have to navigate our way through the pandemic. Like every organization, it’s impacted us greatly financially and also impacted our ability to move the sport of soccer forward. At the same time, we want diversity and inclusiveness to be a part of our DNA which informs every decision at every level—we really want to be leaders in this area. We want to work with our Women’s National Team players to bring the situation to a resolution. For our Me’'s National Team, the most pressing matters are renegotiating their collective bargaining agreement and doing everything we can to help them qualify for the next World Cup. And then last, but certainly not least, is getting our kids and adult players back onto the field and enjoying the game of soccer.

You brought up being a former player—a first for this role.

I was never seeking to become president. It’s more than a full-time job. It’s a volunteer position, and I already have a full-time job as a coach. So it wasn’t that I was looking to do this—I was thrown into it quite suddenly. I can’t thank my teammates and other players enough for their support and encouragement—I mean, it just meant so much to me for them to stand up for me publicly. I’m the leader I am today because of my time on the National Team and learning from great leaders like Carla Overbeck, Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy and so many others.

It seemed like after the World Cup victory, the relationship between the USWNT players and U.S. Soccer was in a good place—Megan Rapinoe even thanked former president Cordeiro at the victory parade in NYC. Things soured from there. How do you plan to make sure that the relationship between the Federation and the players is different during your tenure?

Well, I think first and foremost, we need to find a resolution to the litigation. And we’re committed to figuring it out. As you know, the actual litigation is very complicated with how contracts are structured for each team, as well as FIFA [the global governing body of the sport] having drastically different levels of World Cup prize money.

I think U.S. Soccer has done a lot for women’s soccer—it’s a priority of mine and I know it’s a priority for the Federation to continue to be leaders in the women’s game. But this process has been painful—for both sides. It’s going to take time to heal and rebuild the relationship and the trust between the players and the Federation. This isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s going to take time and investment on the Federation’s side to really work to rebuild that trust. I don't know if that rebuilding begins until we resolve the litigation. So it is still my hope that we can resolve this before it goes to trial.

The court filings from U.S. Soccer that were released contained arguments that many criticized as being misogynistic and representative of a broader sexism in sports. How did you personally feel in that moment? And inheriting this dynamic now as president, how do you feel about making sure that the culture of U.S. Soccer is different from what those court documents made it look like?

That court filing is personally offensive to me as a former National Team player and as a woman. I think that language was offensive to every woman.

The language that was used does not represent how I feel, obviously, or how the Federation feels about our women’s team—or women’s soccer or women’s sports in general. I just want to make it clear those filings do not represent the culture of U.S. Soccer. I apologized, the Federation apologized, and we removed the offensive language. Moving forward, we want to continue to show that we’re a leader in the women’s game and that we support all our employees, that we support diversity and inclusion, and that all of these are core beliefs that are needed to help grow the game.

Speaking of diversity and inclusion, you recently announced the repeal of the Federation’s ban on kneeling during the National Anthem and even personally apologized to Megan Rapinoe. What did those conversations look like leading up to the repeal?

I started off by speaking to current and former players from our men’s, women’s, and Paralympic teams. I made sure that I spoke to players who were on both sides of the issue and then ultimately I brought in three of those players—from both sides—who were brave enough to come in and speak to our board about how they felt about the policy. I’m not going to share private conversations between me and Megan, but what I can say is that she is great. She was fully professional and focused on looking forward and not back.

Soccer is obviously not the only sport reckoning with issues of equality. The players of the WNBA negotiated a new CBA this year that was widely hailed as a victory for female athletes—and a potential roadmap for other leagues. Do the implications this lawsuit could have beyond soccer factor into your thinking at all?

I think we’ve been leaders in the women’s game in a lot of ways. But I think we also need to do a better job of bringing others along in this journey. I think we as a Federation, and me personally, want to find a path forward that the women are happy with. Then we can start to push other entities into joining us and raising the profile of women soccer’s and women’s sports.

I’m looking to FIFA to help bridge the gap between the men’s game and the women’s game in terms of investing in the World Cup and [awarding equal] prize money. We need sponsors to commit to the women’s game, broadcasters to show more games, fans to go to more matches and watch games on TV. The people who followed and watched the World Cup also need to do the same for the National Women’s Soccer League. Sponsors and broadcasters that supported the World Cup can do the same thing for the NWSL. There are a lot of great opportunities for growth, and I think our women’s national team players realize it. This is the most popular game in the world. But it can be even bigger by investing in and growing the women’s side of the sport. So we need to come together and resolve the litigation so we can do more to grow the women’s game.

What would be your ideal resolution with the players of the USWNT?

I think, as with any good negotiation, that both sides walk away a little bit uncomfortable with the resolution. But also feeling like they have been heard and are respected and valued.

Since becoming president, what has your communication with the players been like?

The players have been great. Obviously, because this is a class-action lawsuit, we don’t speak about the lawsuit specifically. But there have been so many issues that have come up during the pandemic and this time of uncertainty, so I’ve reached out to the players to see how they’re feeling, get advice from them, and hear how they would like to move forward.

This is a big question, but what do you hope your legacy is as president of U.S. Soccer?

You know, I have been drinking from fire hoses the whole time, so I haven’t really had a chance to think about any sort of legacy. But I mean, it goes along with who I am as a person—I try to lead the best way possible with integrity, by listening and collaborating and trying to do the best that I can to move the Federation forward.

*This interview has been edited for clarity and condensed.

Macaela MacKenzie is a senior editor at Glamour covering wellness and women’s equality in sports. 

Originally Appeared on Glamour