Yesterday the US Women’s Soccer team slaughtered Thailand in a game 13-0 in the Women's FIFA World Cup. This apparently now justifies calling for women soccer players to be paid as much as their male counterparts. Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrat presidential hopeful, even weighed in on the issue in a tweet.
Here's an idea: If you win 13-0—the most goals for a single game in World Cup history—you should be paid at least equally to the men's team.
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 11, 2019
Congratulations, #USWNT!
But as the old saying goes “money talks”, and the money is just not on the women’s side of FIFA. An article in Forbes, breaks down the percentages that players make versus the profits they produce, and found women actually take a bigger percentage than their male counterparts. There's just less money generated by the Women's World Cup.
The men still pull the World Cup money wagon. The men's World Cup in Russia generated over $6 billion in revenue, with the participating teams sharing $400 million, less than 7% of revenue. Meanwhile, the Women's World Cup is expected to earn $131 million for the full four-year cycle 2019-22 and dole out $30 million to the participating teams.
Some Tweeters found other, unique ways to comment on Gillibrand’s tweet.
— Jonah Redmill (@jonah_redmill) June 11, 2019