After the United States Men's National Team defeated Iran earlier this week at the 2022 World Cup being held in Qatar, the athletes who secured the hard-won victory for America landed a significant payday of at least $13 million, potentially more depending on how their subsequent matches play out. But another team that wasn't even in Qatar will be splitting that prize pot with the men's soccer team.
The U.S. Women's National Team — which was not on the field this week as the United States defeated Iran but hopefully watched from the comfort of their homes — will get half the winnings earned by men's team players — after U.S. Soccer takes its 10 percent — and half of any other prize money the USMNT wins through the end of the World Cup if they continue to win. All because of "equity" and a new collective bargaining agreement that requires World Cup winnings to be pooled and divided evenly between the men's and women's teams.
For comparison, the women's team — that did not contribute to the 2022 World Cup winnings — will now take home a minimum amount that, before U.S. Soccer takes its cut, is greater than the cash they brought home after placing first in two successive Women's World Cup competitions. In 2015, USWNT won $2 million as champions, an amount that doubled to $4 million in 2019 when they also took the top spot.
That is, the women's team won $6 million as back-to-back world champions, and will now get half of the $13 million — and potentially more — because the men's team competed in the 2022 World Cup and made it to the first of the knockout rounds.
The unearned prize money for the USWNT comes, as Front Office Sports summarized, as the result of a February settlement the women's team agreed to with the U.S. Soccer Federation after a six-year legal battle. That settlement forked $24 million to the USWNT — with $22 million going to the team's players — and changes to player payment structures which included a provision that World Cup prizes are split between men's and women's teams.
Even CNN's Don Lemon was shocked by reminders that the men's team would only get half of what they earned on the field against Iran while the women's team gets to take half merely by existing, arguing that men's soccer players should be paid more than women's soccer competitors due to the financial realities of each.
Lemon explained in a segment that "if there is more interest in a men's sport, the business people, the people who make money off of sports, will put that on television because we live in a capitalist society" and "it's about the money." Which is, dare we say, correct.
The reason the women's soccer team lands less money for its participation in tournaments is because there's less money to go around in the women's soccer world compared to men's soccer. The spectacle of men's soccer draws enough money for FIFA to dole out some $440 million in prizes at this year's World Cup, but women's soccer was only profitable enough to distribute $30 million among the 2019 Women's World Cup teams.
If U.S. women's soccer players wanted to make their athleticism more profitable, they would need to increase the number of people who watch them, and along with more eyeballs they'd draw more sponsorships, endorsements, etc. in order to have the kind of deals that make men's soccer a financial juggernaut.