USA women win the World Cup but the USA men cannot beat Mexico.

This draws comparison to women's NCAA basketball. The same 6-8 teams comprise the annual Final Four, because they're the only schools that care about women's basketball. The rest of the world cares very little about women's soccer as it compares to men's, so the countries that do invest in developing a competitive national team are few and far between, putting greater parity on the pitch, and a less fun product to watch.

*disparity

NativeSon wrote:

Now the demand for more money for the women has gained more traction.

The men's world cup generated $6B and the women's $131M. The payments to the players comes from FIFA and the women are being paid more on a proportinal basis. For the women to receive equal pay, the U.S. government would have to chip in.

found the knuckle dragger wrote:

settle it on the field wrote:

The men's and women's team should play each other and settle it that way. Of course, the women have already lost to a 15- year old boy's team, but who knows? They should go all or nothing. All of the money allocated to soccer goes 100% to one side or the other based on the outcome on the field. Actual soccer. The best team wins. What could be more democratic?

That doesn't make any sense. They should be paid based on the money that they bring in, not based on how they perform against each other.

That's fine too. Like someone else said, men's world cup generates billions. Women's world cup generates millions.

that works for me wrote:

found the knuckle dragger wrote:

That doesn't make any sense. They should be paid based on the money that they bring in, not based on how they perform against each other.

That's fine too. Like someone else said, men's world cup generates billions. Women's world cup generates millions.

No sh!t. How dumb is it to think they should have to play each other to determine their pay, though?

Men rule wrote:

US male athletes play high profile sports. US female athletes play soccer. Many countries restrict what women are allowed to do. Equal pay for equal work would be awesome because no women would be playing.

As a father of daughters I think it is awesome that there are women's sports and that the US women are internationally competitive. On a similar note, I enjoy following the fine female runners we have in the US as well as they tend to perform better internationally than the men. That being said, women's sports will truly take off financially when women (who out number men) start to tune into women's professional sports the way men do. Advertisers love to target female consumers, as they make the majority of purchasing decisions for households. If women were to tune in like men do, they would be paid more than their male counterparts.

It is likely that the boys on these boards who feel threatened by the idea of female sports and who fixate so heavily on male sports are trying to satisfy some latent homosexuality in their subconscious.

Sorry, women's sports are not all that great to watch. The men play the same sports at a higher level.

settle it on the field wrote:

NativeSon wrote:

Res ipsa Loquitur.

The title speaks for itself!

The men's and women's team should play each other and settle it that way. Of course, the women have already lost to a 15- year old boy's team, but who knows? They should go all or nothing. All of the money allocated to soccer goes 100% to one side or the other based on the outcome on the field. Actual soccer. The best team wins. What could be more democratic?

Do you and all the other angry little boys here also get upset when a welterweight boxer makes more money for fighting another welterweight even when either would be destroyed by a poorly paid, low ranked heavyweight?

joedirt wrote:

As a father of daughters I think it is awesome

I, too, have only daughters. In my house, we watch women's soccer. Tennis. Softball. I coach my daughter's softball team, actually. I still think it's ridiculous that women think they deserve equal pay for a sport that doesn't bring in equal revenue.

It has nothing to do with gender or (though nice) homoerotic fantasies.

It's quite correct. No cares. The viewer numbers globally show this. Women don't deserve equal pay. Again, because no one watches and it generates no money.

Comparing the USA men's team to the women's is comparing apples and oranges.

The feminists can pipe down. They are lucky it was being shown on TV. I'd say most national broadcasters lost money showing it

Sorry folks. I think I speak for a large portion of ..merica, when I say, I would not watch soccer, let alone women's soccer, if it was in my front yard. I'm just not interested.

tlev wrote:

No cares. The viewer numbers globally show this. Again, because no one watches and it generates no money.

False.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

NativeSon wrote:

Now the demand for more money for the women has gained more traction.

The men's world cup generated $6B and the women's $131M. The payments to the players comes from FIFA and the women are being paid more on a proportinal basis. For the women to receive equal pay, the U.S. government would have to chip in.

hotter babes, more revealing uni's. Problem solved

Tristate wrote:

Sorry folks. I think I speak for a large portion of ..merica, when I say, I would not watch soccer, let alone women's soccer, if it was in my front yard. I'm just not interested.

It doesn't matter. If the sport generates enough revenue to pay the bills it can exist. It's irrelevant what you, and the people you say you represent, think.

I would never watch NASCAR, but it still exists.

The argument is entirely wrongly focused here on the ability of women and men. Of course men would win. They are physically bigger, stronger, faster, and are the cream of a far larger, more competitive world talent pool. Notably, girls and boys are very competitive with each other through age 12; it is only with the onset of puberty that boys become dominant. My daughter's soccer team has boys and girls up through age 13 and there was a girl on the team who was probably the best or second best (next to her younger brother) and the fastest or second fastest. Many of the girls' results at the youth track meet were as good as the boys up through 12 as well. So, let's not act as if the U.S. women are not very talented and skilled. Physical differences of that level are not overcome but it doesn't mean the women are any less special. Would you say the French men's soccer team is terrible because they couldn't beat a 15 year old team of Ubermenschen?

Tristate wrote:

Sorry folks. I think I speak for a large portion of ..merica, when I say, I would not watch soccer, let alone women's soccer, if it was in my front yard. I'm just not interested.

Lol...keep lying to yourself. US ratings/share for the final were higher than any World Series game from last year. Sounds like you don't "speak for a large portion of ..merica".

joedirt wrote:

As a father of daughters I think it is awesome that there are women's sports and that the US women are internationally competitive. On a similar note, I enjoy following the fine female runners we have in the US as well as they tend to perform better internationally than the men. That being said, women's sports will truly take off financially when women (who out number men) start to tune into women's professional sports the way men do. Advertisers love to target female consumers, as they make the majority of purchasing decisions for households. If women were to tune in like men do, they would be paid more than their male counterparts.

Well said. I sometimes feel like a unicorn for liking the US men's team AND the USA women's team - to read any comment section, forum, etc. anywhere online, it would seem like it's an either/or proposition. Everything I see is some whacko feminist claiming that the women could beat the men, then some whacko mysognist ranting about how Rapinoe is a man and is so horrible for not singing the anthem (not kneeling anymore, but just not singing along to it... Jesus Christ!)

But my own little rant aside, you raise an incredibly apt point. The US women's national team gets a lot of attention and deservedly so, but beyond the national team schedule (which is much broader than the men's national team schedule for a number of reasons), NOBODY shows up to watch and support the Women's National Soccer League - not even the girls and women whom the US team is supposedly inspiring every day . The average attendance per game is something like 6,000, and that's one of the top women's leagues in the world. The men's MLS isn't close to the best, simply because the big money European leagues have had such a head start, and it still draws in over 20,000 a game, with particularly well-supported teams like Seattle and Atlanta pulling in averages in the 40K-50K range.

If people want to solve the revenue thing and help boost women's player salaries, there is a massive, massive opportunity to help by supporting your local NWSL team,. Go to the games, buy the merch, etc. I mean, damn, tickets are available! But people don't go.

Worldwide is different than the US. In the US, the WWC garners more viewers than the MWC and makes more money than the MNT. If you have read the actual EEOC complaint, it takes USSF to task, not FIFA and the net revenue that the United States Soccer Federation makes off of the USWNT is $5,000,000 off of their 20 required friendlies (vs a $1,000,000 loss for the USMNT for their 20 required friendlies). If the men were somehow able to field a competitive team, they might actually make more than the women, but the truth is they don't. The most watched men's game in the US was the round of 16 loss to Belgium when Tim Howard made a record number of saves at 20 million viewers. The USWNT final against Japan in 2015 garnered 26.7 million. The USWNT final this year's viewership was down, mainly due to the fact that it was at 10A eastern, but was still 20% better in the US than the men's WC final last year in a similar time slot.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/soccer/worldcup/2019/07/08/world-cup-2019-uswnt-final-ratings-fox-sports-outdrew-mens/1674312001/

As for the Dallas U15 boys soccer team, when they start generating $5 million in revenue for USSF, then they can start complaining.

In the US there are a lot of sports where the male leagues are way bigger draws than soccer that our best athletes go to. Soccer is 5th on our sport list, actually lower if you count motor sports.

On the women's side, it is first. Other than WNBA is even close so our talent actually goes to soccer. Although a lot of women play basketball pro soccer players make way more than WNBA players.