Payscale Joins Angel City’s Founding Partners Ahead of NWSL Debut

Emily Caron
·3 min read

Compensation software and data company Payscale Inc., has joined Angel City FC’s roster of founding partners. Payscale will serve as the Los Angeles-based NWSL expansion club’s official compensation management partner, but the pair also announced plans to leverage Payscale’s expertise to support a broader mission for equitable compensation across the sports industry.

The club did not disclose terms of the multi-year deal, but Angel City’s trio of kit sponsors—health grocer Sprouts Farmers Market (back), women’s footwear brand Birdies (sleeve) and food delivery company DoorDash (front)—all signed seven-figure commitments (or more: DoorDash’s five-year agreement with the club was reportedly valued in the low eight-figure range).

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Payscale is the seventh corporate partner to join the club’s top-tier sponsorship category, which also includes Gatorade, Heineken and Therabody.

Beginning in 2022, when Angel City is set to debut, the club and Payscale will unveil a “Pay Equity Pledge” that will aim to push companies, including those with ties to the sports industry, to make pay equity a priority—and a reality—within their organizations. Payscale will also provide educational workshops for ACFC players, focused on applying their skills and experiences to a post-playing career.

“Since our first conversations with Payscale, we knew that not only is this a company that we want to partner with, but one that we want to be customers of,” Angel City president and co-founder Julie Uhrman said. “We founded Angel City on the principle of pay equity. By locking arms with Payscale, we ensure that our organization adheres to a standard of equitable compensation, as well as aim to hold others to that same standard through our Pay Equity Pledge and programming.”

Women’s soccer in the U.S. is no stranger to issues of pay equity, with the U.S. Women’s National Team still wrapped up in an ongoing legal fight, claiming U.S. Soccer violated the Equal Pay Act by paying the women’s team players less than USMNT players on account of their sex. As the battle rages on in court, the governing body is simultaneously trying to persuade the women’s and men’s national teams to accept “identical” agreements to ensure their next CBAs are equal.

As with all of Angel City’s corporate sponsorship deals, 10% of the value of the pact will be reallocated to charitable work through community and social programs. Payscale and ACFC will partner to provide career resources to youth in Los Angeles and across the country as they transition from high school to college to an eventual career.

“As soon as we heard about the formation of Angel City Football Club, we knew we wanted to become a founding partner and work with an organization built on closing the gender pay gap, not just in sports, but across every industry and organization,” Adrianna Burrows, CMO of Payscale, said in a statement.

Payscale said its software and services are used by more than half of Fortune 500 companies and in 198 countries globally, supporting fair, data-driven compensation scales and strategies across industries. The tech company’s website welcomes nearly 100 million visitors each year, where users can tap its crowdsourced pay database that includes more than 65 million salary profiles. Payscale also provides information to human resources teams to help with compensation adjustments, practical recommendations and comparative industry insights.

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