FIFA Needs to Get the Ball Rolling
By Anthony Plazola:
The Men’s 2022 World Cup prize money is 7 times more than the Women’s 2023 WC prize money, with the men playing for $440 million and the women playing for $60 million, although only three times as many people watched the Men’s World Cup as the Women’s WC. The total viewership for the Men’s 2018 WC was 3.5 billion, and for the Women’s 2019 WC, it was 1.12 billion. FIFA’s WC prize money gap has perpetuated a gender pay gap within the national soccer federations and has resulted in the slow growth of the women’s game. Therefore, FIFA should increase the Women’s WC prize money to that of the Men’s WC prize money because it will force national soccer federations to pay their women’s team the same as their men’s team, it will speed up the development of the women’s game, and because they are late to the game.
Many national women’s soccer teams are fighting for equal pay. None more notably than the U.S. women’s national soccer team. They are suing the United States Soccer Federation to demand equal pay. The U.S. women’s national soccer team lays all the blame on the U.S.S.F. for why there is gender pay gap between the two U.S. national soccer teams. While the U.S.S.F. is pointing a finger at FIFA and its $380 million gap between the men’s World Cup prize and the women’s World Cup prize money, for the difference in the total amount of World Cup money a male and female national soccer player can earn. The U.S. women’s national soccer players can each take home $260,869 in bonuses if they win the WC. While the U.S. men’s national soccer players can each take home $1,114,429 in bonuses if they win the WC.
Just this month, the federation said the step of equalizing WC money needs to be addressed before they agree to a new contract with both teams. FIFA can prevent itself and its national soccer federations from being in any more of these predicaments by increasing the Women’s WC prize money to that of the Men’s. National soccer federations could not implicate them in any more equal pay lawsuits and would have nobody to blame but themselves for still not paying their women’s national soccer teams the same as their men’s teams.
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Not only is it in the best interest of FIFA, but it’s also in the best interest of the women’s game of soccer that FIFA increases the Women’s WC prize money to that of the Men’s. Ironically, FIFA and its national federations describe themselves as guardians of the women’s game. If they truly want to live up to that and for the public to see them as that, then they should provide women soccer players with equal pay.
We have seen how much the women’s game has grown with the little investment they have had. For example, the U.S. women’s 2019 home jersey is the number one selling soccer jersey, men’s or women’s, ever sold. It is without question that equal pay would speed up this growth. An acceleration of the development of the women’s game would lead to an increase in competition and commercialization of the women’s game. That means fewer women’s national soccer games ending in 13–0 and an increase in revenue generated by women’s national soccer teams.
FIFA is being left behind as it continues to stall. Tennis set the precedent, and the NHL became the latest example. Tennis set the precedent in 1973 when the U.S. Open was the first of the four major grand slams to award equal prize money to its male and female champions. Wimbledon was the last of the four to award its male and female champions equal prize money.
The NHL stepped in to help resolve the pay dispute between the U.S. women’s national hockey team and U.S. Hockey. The NHL is paying U.S. Hockey 25,000 per player to help fund their four-year agreement with the women’s national team. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said, “We felt like it was the right thing to do to help them cover that gap or shortfall.” FIFA must not feel that way.
An argument made by those who oppose increasing the Women’s WC prize money is that the Men’s WC brings in more money. That argument is impossible to prove. For all of its WC events, FIFA packages its two biggest sources of revenue, broadcast rights and sponsorships. That means FIFA sells the rights to broadcast the Men’s and Women’s World Cups as one.
A solution that would put this argument to the test and would help women soccer players achieve equal pay would be if FIFA followed the tennis model. Tennis simultaneously plays the four major grand slams for men’s and women’s tennis. This format has led to female tennis players attaining equal pay for these four major grand slams. So, FIFA should increase the Women’s WC prize money to that of the men’s and schedule both World Cups at the same time every two years instead of every four years. That way, players can represent their countries in double the number of World Cups, and national soccer federations can get more out of their top players.
