by GLENN CROOKS

On Wednesday, I had a one-on-one conversation with attorney Jeff Kessler, best known as the man who represented Tom Brady against the NFL in the infamous DeflateGate scandal.

Today, Kessler is the lead attorney representing the United States Women’s National Team in a wage discrimination claim to the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee (EEOF).

I sat down with Kessler to discuss the Women’s case — and even touched on the looming NASL matter with the U.S.S.F.

Here is the full Q&A from our chat:

Glenn Crooks: You stated recently that the USWNT filed the wage claim because US Soccer made it clear that they will not consider equal pay. How did you come to that conclusion?

Jeff Kessler: The women had made a proposal of achieving equality with the men in compensation. The USSF found this financial proposal to be so irrational in their view that they would not respond to it and asked the women to make more proposals. It was very clear that the USSF were looking for something less than equal pay and since that violates the law, the women shouldn’t even have to negotiate for it, they should just receive that. The players concluded they had no choice but to take this legal action.

GC: Russell Sauer, US Soccer’s legal council, denied “categorically” that anything even remotely along those lines of equal pay was ever said in any of the three CBA negotiating meetings to this point.

JK: I read his quotes and he was very careful. He never stated that they would NEVER agree to equal pay.

GC: It seems as if US Soccer is accusing you of stretching the truth.

JK: Well, they can portray me or the women any way they would like. The facts will free us all.

GC: The expectation is that US Soccer will be forced to disclose to the EEOC how they have calculated past payments to the women. What do you think they will find?

JK: There’s never been adequate disclosures of USSF finances, so we will be anxious to see what they disclose now. The issue of the fact there is different pay here is not going to be disputed. Here’s what The USSF is going to claim as a defense – don’t look at 2015 when the USWNT made a lot more revenues, don’t look at 2016 when the women are going to make a lot more revenues, let’s go back to earlier years when they claim the women did not make those kind of revenues and that is justification for paying the women less. We are looking for equal compensation today. What’s relevant to that issue are what are the finances today. We don’t think this is going to be a complicated or difficult issue for the EEOC at all.

GC: You would expect US Soccer to claim that pay disparities are consistent with salary and compensation policies found in its current CBA with the USWNT. In essence, the players voluntarily agreed to their current wages. Won’t that make it difficult for EEOC to rule in your favor?

JK: Nobody can agree to an unlawful discrimination. Imagine if someone entered into a union agreement that said that Black or Latino players are going to only play in only one position. That would clearly be illegal. It doesn’t matter if there was an agreement and it’s the same thing for the discrimination based on gender. It is simply not permitted. In every case of pay discrimination the employee has agreed to accept the pay rather than not work at all.

GC: We have heard that EEOC decisions can take up to a year. How do you think that will impact CBA negotiations?

JK: The CBA negotiations are proceeding and maybe we can reach a fair agreement. That would be the hope of the players. This issue could be mooted right now if the USSF agrees to provide equal pay. But if that doesn’t happen, we believe that this one is relatively straight forward and easy for the EEOC so we think it should move more quickly than the average of six months.

GC: Can you describe exactly what you mean by equal pay?

JK: For friendlies they should receive the same pay structure as the men. The same per game payment, the same bonus and incentives. For games in the the World Cup they should receive the same amount for making the team and the same amount for incentives if they get victories. They should get the same per diem for meals. Right now, none of these things is true.

GC: Soccer United Marketing (SUM) is the company that markets the women’s broadcast rights. Does that mean that Major League Soccer is benefiting from the work of the women?

JK: It would certainly appear that way to us. We don’t have any transparency into SUM. The women’s rights are bundled together with all sorts of other rights including MLS. It will be very interesting to see how much USSF is willing to reveal their finances and what that truly shows about the value of these champion women.

GC: Do you see the irony of arguing this claim with US Soccer President, Sunil Gulati, as both of you have strong connections to Columbia University? (Kessler has an undergraduate degree and law degree from Columbia and is a lecturer-in-law. Gulati is a senior lecturer in the Graduate School of Economics)

JK: I actually saw Sunil at a Columbia event recently. I noted to him that the one thing we agree about is Columbia University and we are both financial supporters of Columbia.

GC: You and Gulati have previously met in the litigation spheres. You are representing the North American Soccer League (NASL) against MLS and US Soccer claiming that US Soccer creates unlawful hurdles to ensure that MLS remains America’s only Division 1 league. What is the status of that claim?

JK: That’s still something that is being discussed between the parties so I’m not going to comment on that. The NASL hopes that the USSF is going to give them Division 1 status in the relatively near future and will continue their legal claims if they are not granted that status.

GC: We have always needed a Marvin Miller to represent the concerns of soccer in our country. Are you our guy?

JK: No, I’ll give Rich Nichols (Executive Director, USWNT Players Union) that role. I’m Marvin Miller’s lawyer but I’m not Marvin Miller himself.

GC: One final question. If you had to pinpoint one piece of financial evidence that give the women an edge in this claim, what would it be?

JK: The fact that they generate more revenues than the men and earn half the pay.

For more from Glenn Crooks, visit WFAN.com and listen to his weekly show, The Coaching Academy, every Wednesday on SiriusXM FC.