US women soccer players want equal pay to US men's team.

https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2022-nwsl-attendance/

https://soccerstadiumdigest.com/2019-nwsl-attendance/

Angel City and Portland drew 5 figures in 2022 average attendance 7,894.

Portland and Utah drew 5 figures in 2019, average attendance 7,337.

Growth after the pandemic, but enough to be a blip really. The Angel City/ Wave game in Sept 2022 increased the highest attendance on record from 25,218 to 32,000 for example.

 

Why are we only comparing 2022 to 2019, ignoring the growth from 2013 to 2019 in addition to the very strong rebound from COVID?

And why are we ignoring ratings, which is what I said in the first place, only to have people come up with attendance numbers (again, limited to 2019 vs. 2022)?

Bottom line: You can't say people aren't interested in women's soccer. It's clearly false.

It's also getting bigger, quite rapidly, in Europe.

 

Your original post was speaking about taking off after the pandemic, no? Wouldn't it make sense to compare the year prior and the full year after given that context? Did you not say they have more clubs drawing five figures, which is attendance figures? Because I am pretty sure that is what I was replying about.

Is there anything I have said that is misleading or incorrect? You seem to first claim that my stats were made up, which was not the case.

 

Not sure how a purely US analysis of viewers is useful for what is quite literally a world event.

 

Here are FIFA's analysis. I'm going with viewer hours as the main metric since eyeballs on screens are what brings in the advertisers.

WWC 2019 (2.49 billion viewer hours)
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/5fd80f719fbff8e4/original/rvgxekduqpeo1ptbgcng-pdf.pdf

MWC 2018 (34.7 billion viewer hours)
https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/31f1806ee5de0e32/original/kkiivoviltazeoild16x-pdf.pdf

So, yes, a lot of growth in WWC. It's fair to say that they are a top international competition. Still some ways to go to reach the big dog but it is remarkedly closer.

HOWEVER!!!! Given that the World Cups are sold as a bundle it's hard to say what that means in actual market value. In addition, I've yet to see even token effort by any group to increase the women's share of prize money.

 

We need less focus on the NT and more focus on helping to grow the league. I believe they're supposed to have 14 teams by 2024? Could it grow to 16? Is 20 teams unforeseeable or likely in the future?

 

Let’s recap …

My response …

[QUOTE}NWSL ratings took off with the pandemic, and they have more clubs drawing five figures now.[/QUOTE]

Note that I didn’t say “more clubs drawing five figures now than in 2019.” Perhaps I should’ve said “a few years ago.”

So there are two issues here ...

1. This only goes back to 2019
   
   
2. I said the *ratings* had taken off, and this reply doesn’t mention ratings.
   

I pointed to a source on ratings: https://mobile.twitter.com/nwslnotes

I also went back farther on attendance to show how much it had grown since the first couple of years.

Me again …

The first sentence is more of a response to Deep Wilcox than it is to you. Your stats aren’t made-up, and I don’t think you claimed “no one” is going or watching.

The next couple of posts simply misread my original point: Ratings have taken off since the pandemic and more teams have five figures now. Again, I didn’t say attendance had taken off since the pandemic -- though it’s worth noting that 2022 is still the record.

Anyway you look at it, the league has grown substantially.

Could it still collapse upon itself? Maybe. I could see more national team players chasing big money in Europe. And when the WNT doesn't win (in current odds, they have a better chance than everyone else, but they're far, far short of 50-50), the crowds might die off a bit.

But I wouldn't bet on it. The league is on solid ground at last, and I think the most recent wave is sustainable.

 

So…

How much of the men’s money from Qatar did the women get for sitting on their couches?

 

To me you are coming off as someone pushing way too hard for the USWNT against someone that isn't even attacking them.

You made a comment regarding post-pandemic growth. Having just recently participated in a discussion elsewhere about soccer attendance post-pandemic your attendance claim stood out as wrong. So I responded with accurate information. I have no idea why you are going on and on about ratings, Congrats? There was nothing worth my interest regarding ratings so I didn't bother responding but it feels like you think it is the key to victory in a battle only you are waging.

If you don't AHA!!!11 me to death I'll share the EPL attendance numbers because, while it shows a small growth post-pandemic, it's interesting to note the real difference is just Brentford outdrawing Bournemouth for the most part. I have no knowledge of EPL ratings either.


Edit: Apologies for truncating your message, the quoting got all messed up.

 

The exact amount that the men agreed to as part of their own collective bargaining agreement. One which they’re apparently happy with.

 

Not sure how that answers the question.

 

USWNT & USMNT CBA Fact Sheet

Men got 13 million for their knockout exit.

WWC prizes are

• Winner – $4 million
• Runner-up – $2.6 million
• Third place – $2 million
• Fourth place – $1.6 million
• Quarter-finalists – $1.45 million each
• Round of 16 – $1 million each
• Group stage – $750,000 each

So, yeah, the women will get a lot more money. A heck of a lot.

 

Though going forward FIFA seems like they are trying to sell separately.

https://theathletic.com/3718294/2022/10/22/infantino-womens-world-cup/

 

The fact that FIFA has rejected the offers of so many footballing nations so far seems like a pretty bad sign and somewhat indicative that the true value of the property is not what many people want to believe it is.

 

What do the women get to take from the men’s World Cup?

 

Click the FAQ and read it to find out.

 

I love that the women got paid - I hope they ball out next summer

 

It answers the question with the exact mentality with which it was asked.

 

1. I said ratings took off.

2. You cited attendance figures and said "took off" was an exaggeration.

Simple misunderstanding of what I said. It happens. No need to double down on it.

 

That was the 2019 Cup. Infantino pledged to double the overall prize money in 2023, but I don't know how the expanded field will affect the specific prizes for the top places.

Can we all just agree that both national teams are vastly overpaid and that our failure to invest that money in future generations is a hindrance to future success?

 

How does this impact the coaching staff, head coaches etc?

 

Tbh USSF could just cut the men's pay to $50 per match and they'd still show up. But the USSF is too busy trying to show they're 'fair'.

 

What's wrong if the women ask for the same pay? I don't have an issue with it.

 

Have you gone past the simple one line statement and dug in to the details?

What if by same pay the women mean that the US association match the FIFA Men's *champion* tournament winnings of 38 million dollars that the French association received?

They don't even bother going to the tournament money bags, FIFA. Nope, just straight up demand their association to match it. Never mind that the French men's team only gets 20% of that amount. Nope, it has to be the same 90% (or was it 100?) that they get now.