Yes, if you compare a WC year for the women with an off year for the men, the women have a higher revenue. That is completely disingenuous though. If you compare a 4-year cycle then the women bring in much much less money.
The Men’s World Cup was 2014. The Women’s World Cup was 2015.
The women soccer players should go on strike if they think they’re being unfairly treated.
This is where left-wing thinking just goes off the rails. The hiring manager is not smoking a fat cigar saying, “Ha, we can pay these stupid broads pennies compared to the men!” The pay is not less because of gender, but because of the value the employee/player brings to the owners.
I’ve said before that I would love to be in a position to pay an employee $1 million per year. That means I am making a hell of a lot more.
Yes, that article that Grrr! linked to is a perfect example of how to be misleading. Unfortunately there’s no shortage of people ready to fall for that kind of thing.
In addition to going on strike, the female soccer players have the option of moving to another country and selling their soccer-playing services there.
But that is not really a feasible option for most people. However, it got me thinking, is there any competition in the women’s soccer market? If I am a baseball player and I don’t like what the Pirates are paying me, I can shop the other teams.
What can these soccer players do? (Again, except uprooting your entire life and moving to a foreign country)
That’s the same thing. Players choosing to seek stronger markets for their talents.
Many of the best American women basketball players do indeed relocate temporarily to other countries, where women’s basketball pays more.
For that matter, the best Venezuelan baseball players come to the US. What’s the difference?
This controversy is about national team pay. They cannot go play for another national team.
They could go play for another club team in a different country, but there really isn’t a market for it. There’s not really a market for it in the US either, women that don’t have their pay subsidized by USSF make something like $15,000 a year.
I was addressing UltraVires’ “it got me thinking” thought.
I’m not sure that national team players, as such, should be paid at all (covering expenses would be another matter)… but if they are, certainly it should be on an egalitarian basis. Their service, in this specific context, is in representing the country, not putting asses in the seats. We don’t prorate Olympic medallist prize money according to the commercial heft of their sport outside the Olympics, nor the attendance at their Olympic events, right? Revenue has nothing to do with it.
I’m aware. I was responding to that; these women can’t seek a better country to play for. You play for the country you’re a citizen of. I guess if they really wanted to they could go live in France for 8 years or whatever, but that seems unrealistic
This strikes me as very old-fashioned. Leaving aside the great financial risk these people put themselves into that they should be compensated for, and the billions of dollars of profit that they create that they should be compensated for, revenue has everything to do with it. Soccer teams play a lot of “friendlies” that are absolutely to make money for the federation. There are tons of games that aren’t played for a competition or to prepare for one that are just for money making. You’d be asking players to volunteer to make other people rich without any pride or glory in it.
Uh… I know? The remarks about relocation had nothing whatever to do with national teams.
Is not being selected to a national team a point of pride itself? Is there no glory in having a part in a victory in your country’s kit? (I expect it’s not bad for one’s club-contract and endorsement prospects either.)
I’m also unclear on how playing time in a national-team format could fail to be preparation for the tournaments, but then I am a casual soccer fan at best.
This entire discussion is about pay for the national teams.
How does a game 2 years before a tournament with a completely different roster of player prepare for a tournament?
Men’s football brings in more money than women’s football = Men get paid more.
It’s sports, entertainment, not a government run department.
I agree, but that isn’t the best type of free market competition. If I repair copiers, and Toshiba isn’t paying me enough, I am free to entertain offers from Xerox across town. I can do that by still living in my same house, same friends, same country of citizenship.
I am also free to move to a different state, but I still have American TV, restaurants, culture, etc. Changing citizenship seems a high price to pay and acts as a barrier to competition.
If the men choose not to play for the US team they can play professional soccer in many countries around the world and make millions of dollars. If the women choose not to play for the national team they can play for the Pro league in the US and make tens of thousands of dollars.
Given that leverage and the fact that winning one more game in the world cup can mean millions to US soccer it is not surprising that men get payed more.
In terms of equity and justice the men’t team players are in the top couple hundred players in the world. There isn’t one women who is in the top five thousand players in the world. Yet some people think that paying them equally is necessary for fairness. That does not seem fair to me.
World Cup income the US Federation receives comes from the global revenue generated by each tournament not US viewership alone. The US men’s team will be benefiting from the fanaticism of many hundreds millions of fans worldwide watching Germany tear Brazil apart in a WC semi final. A game watched with almost as much interest in Italy, Japan and Russia as it was in Germany and Brazil.
The fact that they are representing our nation, this is not a strictly commercial endeavor.
So do we pay Olympic athletes based on viewership as well or are the Olympics run at cost by the networks?
Nobody outside of America is watching the world cup to watch the men’s US team play.
Wait. Someone OWNS the US national soccer teams?
So who owns the US soccer teams?