USWNT stars accuse U.S. Soccer of wage discrimination in EEOC filing

But they didn't, right? The USSF actually earned that much money from the women.

I didn't get it from the article -- are the women asking for the same as the men, or for more than their expired deal called for?

 

I don't think so. Let's face the facts. The women's team are world champions. The men's team are currently big losers. Americans don't care for losers. What will the men's team draw if they don't qualify for 2018.

 

I love soccer, but you would have to pay me to watch the women's game.

 

Maybe so, but the balance sheet indicates many customers disagree with you. The men, well, the ones who can play at their alleged world class level, have options to make money, as Dempsey has. National competition is it for the women. The US women's team has capitalized on that chance to become popular champions. That the soccer federation stiffs them to pour more money down their various ratholes is a disgrace.

 

Women's soccer is proof that when a lot of men say "you have to earn it," they don't mean that and they aren't going to give you credit when you have earned it. In 1996, the players almost had to walk out on the Olympics to get a decent wage, and then -- despite a full 75,000-plus-seat stadium and millions of active fans at home -- NBC wouldn't show the gold-medal game live. Even the '99 run was at first an exercise in media rejection, which eventually led to grudging acceptance, and then the same outlets that laughed at the sport suddenly made it the biggest thing ever.

It has continued since that time with a lot of other crap, including making them play the World Cup on ground-up tires. Clearly there's no way the women are going to get a fair shake in the sport even if they've earned it.

 

And as this thread proves, men soccer fans are more than OK with that. If I were advising the women, I'd tell them to walk out for the Olympic gold medal game should they make it and just sit on the damn pitch.

 

Why won't the women's national team strike? The stars have the most leverage they are going to get.

 

I think because, deep down, they know that if they do it'll probably be met with a collective, "Meh. What else is on?"
They're not necessarily wrong in this debate, but it's still women's soccer. The only reason the average American sports fan cares about it is because the U.S. kicks everyone's ass and we can get all jingoistic over it for a few weeks. That only happens once every four years, and then it's back to being about the 16th most popular sport in the country for the next 47 months.
They can go on strike and prove a point, but no one is going to miss them unless it's a World Cup year. Even then, there's a good chance on one would miss them.

 

NBC has long been roundly panned for not showing Olympic events live in general, not just women's soccer. Remember "plausibly live?"

The fact that the women don't have club salaries as the men do complicates matters. Frankly it's apples and oranges because of that fact.

 

I blame soccer.

 

Simple solution: Have the women's team play the men's team. Winner gets the higher salary.

 

Plus watching for sports bras.