U.S. hockey agreement could have far-reaching impact
Cammi Granato's biggest victory in hockey came 12 years after she retired.
When USA Hockey and the women's national team agreed to a contract Tuesday night that ended a wage dispute, Granato couldn't put her happiness into words.
The Hockey Hall of Famer and her teammates staged a similar fight in 2000 without success, and she hopes the current team's progress paves the way for the future of women's hockey and even other sports.
"It's bigger than any victory that we've had in USA Hockey," said Granato, who won the gold medal in 1998 with the U.S. at the first Olympics with women's hockey. "I just think it's such a positive, positive day for women's hockey, women's sports and women in general."
Granato and lawmakers, lawyers and experts see the U.S. national team's agreement as a precedent-setter for other hockey teams around the world and other men's and women's athletes in this country.
As the U.S. women's soccer team continues to work out a labor contract, the women's hockey team showed how it could leverage solidarity and timing into a multiyear agreement that satisfied all parties involved and pushed gender quality in sports forward.
"I'm hoping it will create a wave across the country of more equity in pay," said Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar, one of 20 senators to write to USA Hockey executive director Dave Ogrean encouraging him to end the dispute.
"We know that it's not going to be exactly the same. We know the viewership numbers for some of these sports, but at least you have to try. When you try and you give them more funding, it's kind of a chickenand-egg problem.
"Once they're able to actually support themselves and it's more lucrative, you get more women going into the sport, then you have better sports and you have more people watching them."
In that way, women's hockey has taken the first step toward following women's soccer, almost 20 years after the World Cup-winning team led by Mia Hamm, Brianna Scurry, Julie Foudy and Brandi Chastain inspired Granato and her teammates to challenge USA Hockey.
Members of the U.S. women's hockey team will now make $3,000$4,000 a month with the ability to earn around $71,000 annually and up to $129,000 in Olympic years when combined with contributions from the U.S. Olympic Committee.
That's still less than what women's soccer players bring in, but now players won't have to work second or third jobs — and half did — or retire to start a family because the new contract guarantees that protection along with insurance and other improvements.
Lawyer John Langel of Ballard Spahr, who represented soccer players from 1998-2014 and the hockey players in this negotiation, said hockey "shouldn't necessarily take the same long journey" depending on how many strides are made in professional leagues, programming, marketing and sponsorships.
One immediate impact is lengthening careers, which has already shown to be the case in soccer and could transfer over to other sports.