US Soccer agrees to equal pay. Should the NBA help subsidize WNBA salaries??

[PRESTIGE]

The US Soccer federation has agreed to pay the mens and womens teams equally. Apparently they will do this by combining the mens and women's revenue from the World Cup and tournaments and then pay out from that.

Do you see this coming to the NBA and WNBA soon since the precedent has been set? Will NBA players and owners agree to give a % of BRI to increase WNBA player salaries? This could be the next talking point for the media.

[Hoopstar23]

No

[Pelon chingon]

Let's be clear, the WNBA isn't commercially viable.

[celticfan42487]

They already had equal pay a long time ago, now the women will get paid a lot more than the men which is what the entire thing has been about.

[bbalnation]

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/19/us-womens-soccer-games-now-generate-more-revenue-than-mens.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814656567/male-players-have-more-responsibility-than-women-u-s-soccer-says-in-court-filing

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/soccer/news/us-soccer-equal-pay-explained-women-national-team-players/om6srb5uqfvkz3wvaqmulvqb

[Reeko]

The disparity in popularity between men and women's soccer in the US is nowhere near the same as the disparity in popularity between men and women's basketball. The WNBA is already subsidized as is, and unless paying these WNBA players more is somehow going to improve their athleticism and skills, then the answer should be a resounding "No".

[TravisScott55]

I'm pretty sure the womens soccer team is more profitable than the men, which is not the case for the WNBA and NBA.

[BernteB]

The US Soccer federation has agreed to pay the mens and womens teams equally. Apparently they will do this by combining the mens and women's revenue from the World Cup and tournaments and then pay out from that.

Do you see this coming to the NBA and WNBA soon since the precedent has been set? Will NBA players and owners agree to give a % of BRI to increase WNBA player salaries? This could be the next talking point for the media.

totally different thing. as far as i understand it, it's the governmental body of u.s. football (soccer) paying men and women equally for their participation in international tournaments. it's not like mls and [whatever the professional league for women is named] are paying their players equally. it's like u.s. basketball pays the same to its men and women team for participating in the olympics or the world cup.

[Raps in 4]

US Soccer isn't a league. They just govern the US national soccer teams. Players make barely any money in international competitions so it's easy to equalize. This isn't an equalization of pay across soccer leagues (where soccer players actually make their money). Men will still earn tens of millions of dollars playing club soccer while women's salaries will still be in the tens of thousands of dollars.

[danvato]

i guess congrats to the women. feels off thou, i thought one of the principals for equal pay was doing the same job. Oh well, lets pay gleaguers and high school kids as much as they pay NBA players, they all do the same thing right?

[First Step]

Could a WNBA player get a bucket in the G League?

[Sedale Threatt]

i thought one of the principals for equal pay was doing the same job.

If we're looking at it that way, the US women are way, way better at their job than the men. Case in point, they won the last World Cup and we couldn't even qualify.

[Jellybeans]

They should start with ending year without loses

[Stan]

I refuse to believe that OP or anybody else could ever believe that WNBA players making as much as NBA ones could ever be fiscally possible.

[anatomicbomb]

i guess congrats to the women. feels off thou, i thought one of the principals for equal pay was doing the same job. Oh well, lets pay gleaguers and high school kids as much as they pay NBA players, they all do the same thing right?

the women's national soccer team is doing more than the men, and better.

the comparison with the nba/wnba isn't applicable because the nba/wnba are leagues/businesses whereas the soccer federation is an extra-governmental body that oversees national soccer programs.

all said, this is still a big win and great day for women's sports.

[dhsilv2]

i thought one of the principals for equal pay was doing the same job.

If we're looking at it that way, the US women are way, way better at their job than the men. Case in point, they won the last World Cup and we couldn't even qualify.

The worst engineer makes more than the best walmart greeter. The question is if they are doing the same job and here obviously men's and women's soccer isn't the same job at all.

That said, I didn't even realize they got paid. I thought national teams were done for the love of the sport/country or whatever. Had no idea they got a check for it too.

[LAL1947]

The US Soccer federation has agreed to pay the mens and womens teams equally. Apparently they will do this by combining the mens and women's revenue from the World Cup and tournaments and then pay out from that.

Do you see this coming to the NBA and WNBA soon since the precedent has been set? Will NBA players and owners agree to give a % of BRI to increase WNBA player salaries? This could be the next talking point for the media.

There's some report saying that from 2016 to 2018, US women’s games generated approximately $50.8 million in revenue, compared with $49.9 million for US men’s games. So if that's true, then I think it is an excellent and fair thing for US Soccer to pay equally when it comes to national team games. If the women's national team games start pulling in higher revenue than the men's in the future, the women should ask for more... and vice versa.

They're not talking about soccer league games here btw... so no, the WNBA and NBA will not be next. There's no connection between the two events.

[Smash3]

Is this for national teams or club level? Because that is two entirely different things. That would be like if the USA national team paid their women basketball team the same as the mens team. Clubs wouldn't pay the same given they operate as businesses and divide the pie according to revenue.

[bbalnation]

I refuse to believe that OP or anybody else could ever believe that WNBA players making as much as NBA ones could ever be fiscally possible.

Globally, in the long term? I dont know, its not impossible to think about anymore.

It happened in footie (not the North American version) within international leagues, not the NWSL/MLS (which would be the WNBA/NBA equivalent). Basketball is also a rapidly growing sport around the world. It can continue to appeal to many markets and audiences, varying in age groups and demographics.

For example, I didn't think that the US women's national team (ie FIFA?) would generate more $ than the men's national team in the last five years. I was wrong.

Being paid less, despite outputting similar or more results $ and financially, exists for one gender more than another, across different industries.

Sport is one of them. We just saw something i dont see too many times relative to how often it happens imo, with the US Womens ⚽️ National Team. For this situation on being paid what they were owed (presently and moving forward), they were able to find justice towards equal compensation retroactively and moving forward after not being able to see it through the legal system, after a 2-3 year long process.

[Sedale Threatt]

i thought one of the principals for equal pay was doing the same job.

If we're looking at it that way, the US women are way, way better at their job than the men. Case in point, they won the last World Cup and we couldn't even qualify.

The worst engineer makes more than the best walmart greeter. The question is if they are doing the same job and here obviously men's and women's soccer isn't the same job at all.

That said, I didn't even realize they got paid. I thought national teams were done for the love of the sport/country or whatever. Had no idea they got a check for it too.

lol, I mean, in this instance the men would clearly be the Walmart greeter. We're usually lucky to make it out of the group stage, whereas the women have won the entire thing four or five times. The men's tournament obviously generates way more money, but even then that's somewhat mitigated here in the U.S. by how hugely popular the women's team is. Another case in point: The last women's final had a higher US TV rating than the men's final, and it's not like we ignore the World Cup anymore.

And besides, the WC prize money isn't THAT enormous, at least for a second-tier team like us. You get something like $10 million for advancing past the group stage, whereas the joint TV deal US Soccer just signed with Turner pays out almost three times as much annually. And a huge reason they got the money they did is because of the women's popularity. (WC prize money obviously shoots up the deeper you go, but the chances of us getting past the first knockout round is always slim so it's kind of a moot point.)

The question at hand is silly; domestic leagues are a totally different ballgame, and the money isn't there. The WNBA, for example, is basically subsidized by the NBA. That isn't the case here. The women's national team sells out stadiums and brings a ton of eyeballs to the table, and they deserve to be compensated for that.