Is that the easy answer tho? Would the men be happy getting a smaller cut of the FIFA awards while USSF gets a larger cut? You aren't wrong that the men likely won't be awarded the award for winning the WC any time soon, but, if memory serves, the FIFA award for making the knockout rounds in the MWC is more than what the WWC pays out to the winner and the men generally have a good chance of making it out of the group stages. Another alternative would be to do what other countries have done to pay the men and women the same on a per match basis and give the players a set percentage of the award from FIFA. That, obviously, means the women get paid less in total money, but until FIFA starts making up the difference.... Or, a third option, is to just chuck competition awards into a pool and split it among both men and women who made appearances for the NT that year. Some years that means the women's performance ends up rewarding the men, but in other year's, it would be the men's performance rewarding the women.
Are any of those the easy answer tho? Option 2 is a non starter for the women, because they already make greater than 100% of WWC income, so that would actually make the gap of actual dollars bigger. Option 3 isn't simple. Who gets a share? Everyone who is capped? A lot more men get capped because of the roster restrictions for the WNT. So you will still have a lot more money flowing to the men.
The easiest way would be to base it on how many callups and how many game day rosters they make. Since fewer women get called up than men, individual women would get a larger slice of the pie than individual men. The other issue, that is a giant elephant in the room here, is that maybe it is time to stop giving annual contracts to the women and start paying them only based on callups. Now that there are actually women's leagues, is it really up to USSF to be guaranteeing salaries for certain women?
Possible Solutions/Outcomes: 1. Women back down and say “Nah, just kidding” – fat chance. 2. USSF has secret slush funds equaling $10 Million per year stretching back awhile that will be discovered and paid out to settle lawsuit – Not happening. 3. USSF can magically find $10 Million annually in their budget going forward – No per President Cone today. 4. Jeff Bezos or from what I understand, Jeff Bezos’ Ex-wife, agrees to make up the current difference, past and future, in WC and CONCACAF bonus payouts – Please Please Please. 5. FIFA and CONCACAF equalizes bonus payments by having their representatives fly Business rather than 1st Class – You’re dreaming. 6. As mentioned before, base Men’s WC and CONCACAF bonus payouts on $’s that the Women receive – not good when attempting to build U.S. Men’s Program long-term. Right, wrong, reasonable or otherwise as I understand it………..“Equal” doesn’t mean “Equal but” or “Equal except for”. Hello Strike 2022. BWTHDIK
They used to say that about Wimbledon, too. They equalized the payouts. The Earth still circles the sun. I'm not expecting FIFA to equalize the payouts in the next cycle, but I do see the gap appreciably narrowing. Totally equivalent? Well, with the men's tournament going to 48 teams, I don't see the total prize pool being the same.
all they have to do is stop paying the lease on the apartment in Trump Tower for Chuck Blazer’s cats.
I would be shocked if FIFA comes around anytime soon. It is still run to some extent by countries that do not believe in the equality of women, IE: African Nations, Middle East, South and Central American Nations with powerhouses like Argentina, Brazil, etc... Wimbledon is controlled, payout wise, by a single country with a modern take on Men and Women Equality. Large chunks of the world do not share that philosophy. I'm not saying it is right, just hitting the reality as I've seen it in play in other areas. Edit: No way, as Parlow has said it, the USA can make up the world difference in pay to match the worlds most popular sport.
Im confused. Should the NBA prize money be the same for men and women? Is it? it? Is it the same in any team sport?
That is a terrible example. You can not compare Wimbledon with the world cup. Simply because Wimbledon (or any other tennis event) runs men's and women's tournament parallel to each other. There isn't any really good excuse to pay men's tennis higher if it is one single event and the ticket do not discriminate between male and female games. In contrast, in soccer there is two completely separate events. One is the world cup the other (on separate venue and date) is the Women's world cup. Even the name isn't the same. One generates billions of dollars the other hundreds of millions (in the last event). The only real solution is to hold a single event and have men's and women's world cup run in parallel. Logistic is a nightmare but this year Euro Cup show a solution. You can have the group stage played in different countries (even home and away matches) and everyone plays round of 16 on in a host country. This is a substantial change in format but the only real solution to equal pay is to have a single World Cup just like summer olympics and tennis grand slams.
Goooood luck. The WNBA is a line item loss on the NBA's balance sheet every year. As soon as they try to cut too deeply into the NBA's pockets, they will be dumped like a sack of potatoes.
The source of the difference in pay is due to having separate tournament. If tennis had Mens' grand slams and at separate dates women's (men's Wimbledon and women's Wimbledon at separate dates) they would also have a difference in revenue which would cause difference in pay. If you want same pay just merge the cups somehow (major change in current format needed). For another option to boost WWC pay, FIFA could simply split equally the TV money. Fifa does not divide the WC and WWC tv rights. If they divide the revenue equally (since they don't/won't/can't separate the rights) WWC would get a huge boost in revenue which would allow WWC to pay substantially higher money prize. I fully understand that there are legitimate market forces that explain the current difference in prize money. But equal pay movement isn't going anywhere and FIFA risk political interference in the sport. They cannot afford to mess this up.
FIFA faces government interference the same way Amazon does. That is to say, governments will continue to bend over backwards for them.
Kessler got a big win in front of the Supreme Court today: https://www.espn.com/college-sports...ides-former-players-dispute-ncaa-compensation
Has anyone seen the "LFG" film? Or plan to? US Soccer Comms is answering back on the misinformation from the film (see whole thread): In the new movie “LFG”, there is a concerning level of dishonesty about U.S. Soccer and the USWNT’s compensation that we feel must be addressed. Specifically, lawyer Jeffrey Kessler presents a misleading and inaccurate account of the facts. (Thread) 1/17— U.S. Soccer Comms (@ussoccer_comms) June 24, 2021 What I found interesting about the thread: -USSF claims that they have pressed FIFA and will continue to press for equal WC payouts. Since when? The only evidence I've seen of this is recent. Was their hand forced by the USWNT suit? In any case, I would like to know more about this. -USSF also says the women have stayed in the finest hotels for the last 20 years...my guess would be more like the last 10 years, but that's a nitpick. The rest is what we already know (but some fans don't want to believe): different pay structures in different CBA's negotiated by different unions, yada, yada, yada. And the women were offered the same pay structure, but refused it. USSF still isn't winning the PR war though.
Watched it. The nicest thing to say is that it is misleading. It is interesting to see the behind the scenes of what happened when events occurred. It largely is the WNT as underdogs and the USSF as the enemy. I always assumed the WNT were willfully ignorant because they tend to be middle/upper middle class and went to really good schools. I don't feel that way anymore unless their reactions/responses were rehearsed. The USSF is never going to win the PR war outside of soccer reporters. IF you look at the reviews, there is a stark difference between those who are "I report on soccer for a living "and "I don't report on soccer for a living". The WNT have their own legal, pubic relations, and communications "team". I kind of feel bad for the USSF. Anything they say will not sway the public outside of soccer journalists. The three things it would have been nice to see talked about even without USSF 1) No real mention of the FIFA prize money differences between men and women and that is where the difference is coming from. 2) No real talk about NWSL salaries and/or why they are driven lower. 3) I am kind of surprised CNN signed off on this. This would be heartless, but if I was the USSF, my only public statement from now until the rest of time is "we offered the us wnt the same exact contract as the us mnt. The contract will always be available to sign during contract negotiations". Saying anything else would be pointless.
Agree, but it's probably still too nuanced to turn the gaze of the soccer/non-soccer media. It would simply be better to say something like ..."the WNT compensation is exactly what they bargained for, and agreed to accept, and for that reason the court simply dismissed that portion of their lawsuit"... Anything else is besides the point. Divert the attention of the media from mewling, to simple and understandable fact.
Interesting comparison between the men's and women's deal. This may have been mentioned before. If so, my apologies.
For the interested, from the Court's Order for Partial Summary Judgement, Pgs. 17 - 19, and notably "Is (it) sufficient to demonstrate that the Defendant compensates MNT players at a rate less than the rate it pays wages to WNT players? The Court thinks not. This approach - merely comparing what each team would have made under the other team's CBA - is untenable in this case because it ignores the reality that the MNT and WNT bargained for different agreements which reflect different preferences, and that the WNT explicitly rejected the terms they now seek to retroactively impose on themselves". Everything else is basically diversionary noise.
The "jury trial" appeal appears to be a legal Hail Mary. The USWNTPA has been crushing it on social media and in the public eye for six solid years now, but losing time and again in court. If they could only get it in front of a jury...