U.S. Soccer Releases Q˜XÝ Ú Y\ä Showing Women's Team Actually LOST Millions Yet Was Still Paid More Than Men’s Team

[Ubiquitous]

The President of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) released a “fact sheet”
Monday night alleging that, contrary to claims made as part of a lawsuit, the
U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) actually lost the federation millions of
dollars. Despite this, the president claimed, women soccer players still
out-earned their male counterparts.

Every four years, when the Women’s soccer World Cup is in the news, we are
told that the women’s team is paid less than the men’s team. The claim is
used as a rallying cry in the demand for equal pay, even though athletes and
other entertainers have vastly different pay structures than average
Americans.

Still, we are told the women’s team is discriminated against because of their
gender because they are paid less than the men’s team. Earlier this year, the
women’s team filed a lawsuit against the USSF alleging pay discrimination. In
June, the women’s team released information alleging they brought in more
revenue for USSF than the men’s team. The difference was slight — $50.8
million to $49.9 million — but it was enough to cast doubt on those saying
the women’s team doesn’t bring in as much revenue as the men’s team.

Now USSF President Carlos Cordeiro is pushing back. He wrote an open letter
explaining that he directed U.S. Soccer staff to conduct “an extensive
analysis of the pa st 10 years of U.S. Soccer’s financials.” He said the
analysis was “reviewed by an independent accounting firm.” The analysis
showed that the women’s team was paid more than the men’s team.

The fact sheet includes bulleted information about the different pay
structures for the men’s and women’s teams. USSF claimed that it paid “women
$34.1 million in salaries and game bonuses and we paid our men $26.4 million
— not counting the significant additional value of various benefits that our
women’s players receive but which our men do not.”

For example, the women’s team has a guaranteed salary thanks to their
collective bargaining agreement with USSF. They receive a base salary of
$100,000 each year and an additional salary of $67,500 to $72,500 for playing
in the National Women’s Soccer League. Male soccer players do not have such
an agreement.

That agreement means women soccer players earn a guaranteed salary of
$167,500 to $172,500 each year. On top of that, they are paid bonuses. The
men’s team only earns bonuses. Yes, those bonuses can be larger, but that’s
because they don’t have the guaranteed base salary. The women’s team,
according to USSF, also receives benefits including a 401(k) plan and health
insurance, as well as maternity leave and injury protection. The men’s team
does not receive any benefits.

Finally, USSF points out that the “hypothetical per game comparison” making
the media rounds isn’t even plausible. Neither the men’s nor the women’s
teams have ever played 20 friendly matches in a year, yet this is what the
hypothetical scenario is based on.

“That said, if the men and women ever did play in and win 20 friendlies in a
year and were paid the average bonus amount, a women’s player would earn
more­ from U.S. Soccer than the men’s player — the women’s player would earn
at least $307,500 (WNT and NWSL salaries, plus game bonuses) and the men’s
player would earn $263,333 (game bonuses only),” USSF claimed.

A shocking claim included in the USSF fact sheet are statistics showing the
women’s team has actually lost USSF money:

From 2009 through 2019 — a timeframe that includes two Women’s
World Cup championships — the Women’s National Team has earned
gross revenue of $101.3 million over 238 games, for an average
of $425,446 per game, and the Men’s National Team has earned
gross revenue of $185.7 million over 191 games, for an average
of $972,147 per game. More specifically, WNT games have generated
a net profit (ticket revenues minus event expenses) in only two
years (2016 and 2017).Across the entire 11-year period, WNT games
generated a net loss of $27.5 million. Nevertheless, U.S. Soccer
does not view these as losses, but rather as an important investment
in our Women’s National Team and in the long-term growth of women’s
soccer.

A spokeswoman for the women’s team called the fact sheet a “ruse” and a “sad
attempt” to halt the lawsuit.

“The USSF fact sheet is not a ‘clarification.’ It is a ruse,” said team
spokeswoman Molly Levinson, according to Fox News. “Here is what they cannot
deny. For every game a man plays on the MNT he makes a higher base salary
payment than a woman on the WNT. For every comparable win or tie, his bonus
is higher. That is the very definition of gender discrimination.”

Levinson did not address the fact that the men’s team does not actually have
a base salary.

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