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Women's World Cup: Equal Pay Battle

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  • PowerPlay
    2019-07-09 02:23:57 PM
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    The recent USWNT Women's World Cup win has reignited the discussion about equal pay between men and women in sports. This year's Gold Cup and World Cup are perfect examples for this discussion. Since each team/country/etc can be a little different, I'm just going keep it on the USWNT and Men's team.

    Everyone probably knows at this point that the Woman's team dominated this year and won the Cup, while the Men's team did not win the Gold Cup. So if it was left simply at that it seems like the winners should get paid more, no matter which team it was. FIFA, the governing body in control of payouts of prize money, says the winning U.S. team will receive a maximum payout of $200k per player (including all bonuses from what I understand), though the Men's team would/have received $1,114,429 per player. Disclaimer: The numbers I've been able to find have all been a little different and/or are from years 2015-2019, so I can't swear by that. But everything that I've seen regarding pay/viewership/revenue from all years says the same thing, there's a pretty substantial difference.

    If we just look at the two teams for what they are and the revenue they have produced for FIFA in general, it seems clear to me that if anything at all, either team should be allowed the exact same payout for winning the tournament. I just can't see any reason why they shouldn't be. I've seen people bringing up that the pay isn't all that different when considering viewership/wins/etc, but if that's really the case then the Womans team deserves way more than the Mens team, atleast in the past few years that they've been absolutely killing it.

    All in all, I know that it's a complicated issue. I understand that there's alot that goes into decisions like this. But I don't understand why it's not a cut-n-dry equal payout for, at the very minimum, tournament wins. Does anyone see something here that I'm missing? I've seen a bunch of people claiming that it all adds up in the end to be about the same, but I can't find any figures that show that.

  • Dallasite
    2019-07-09 02:43:08 PM
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    If its just a matter of performance, I would agree with you. But I think it all comes down to world wide viewership, revenue and advertising money. Basically its just a money thing. I would like to see the difference in revenue generated all told between the FIFA Women's World Cup vs the Gold Cup for example.

    If the Women's World Cup drew the same as the Gold Cup in money but the pay was this out of wack, clearly that's an injustice. But if its proportionally less, then what are you going to do. Can't pay them more just because. Money has to be there.

    Do you have any numbers on how much either sport/event generates in actual revenue? I think that's the answer here.
  • joetemple
    2019-07-20 05:29:42 PM
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    I heard they are paid differently and that's part of the reason for the perceived inequality. The US women soccer players are employees and they get an annual salary, while the men only earn money if they play. So its not exactly an apples to apples comparison.

    No doubt I think the women should make more. But I don't its as simple as comparing them to the US men's team. Im not sure the women would trade pay agreements with the men.

  • PowerPlay
    2019-07-20 09:36:11 PM
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    Dallasite Wrote:

    If its just a matter of performance, I would agree with you. But I think it all comes down to world wide viewership, revenue and advertising money. Basically its just a money thing. I would like to see the difference in revenue generated all told between the FIFA Women's World Cup vs the Gold Cup for example.

    If the Women's World Cup drew the same as the Gold Cup in money but the pay was this out of wack, clearly that's an injustice. But if its proportionally less, then what are you going to do. Can't pay them more just because. Money has to be there.

    Do you have any numbers on how much either sport/event generates in actual revenue? I think that's the answer here.

    Now those numbers I was able to find.

    First two revenue numbers here are according to WS Journal, though I've checked and got the exact same numbers everywhere else:

    -From 2016 to 2018 the U.S. Womans team pulled in about $50.8 million in gate revenue.

    -From 2016 to 2018 the U.S. Mens team pulled in about $49.9 million in gate revenue.

    The Womens team also had the best-selling jersey for a single season through Nike, even before they won their fourth Gold Cup.

    Another major point here is that the USSF was predicting a net-loss of around $400k for 2016. Though due to the Womens team's success, the USSF made a profit of around $17 million.

    It's incredibly obvious which team is more popular, generating more revenue, created a dynasty that keeps the sport alive and churning out cash, and obviously playing better (atleast when considering both teams are under the same corporation). They should get paid as such.
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