The prize money will be split evenly between the 26 men on the U.S. roster and the 26 women who make next year's U.S. roster for the 2027 Women's World Cup, should the Americans qualify.

Men's and women's players equally share World Cup prize money under terms of the collective bargaining agreements that were ratified by U.S. Soccer with both national teams in 2022. Those agreements were ratified following nearly six years of the women's national team publicly fighting and suing U.S. Soccer for equal pay.

Per the CBAs, U.S. Soccer keeps 20% of the prize money from each World Cup, with the remaining 80% split equally between the men's and women's players who make their respective World Cup rosters. That 40% equates to $6.4 million per team, and $246,153.85 per player.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49301582/us-men-women-get-equal-split-16m-world-cup-prize

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49989040)

year after year the US federation offered in writing to the women that they could have the exact same contract as the men. the women rejected those offers. the men were making professional money and wanted only per diems from playing for the national team. the women wanted maternity leave, etc.

eventually the women sued for gender discrimination arguing that they were being treated unfairly compared to the men.

the federation hired Seyfarth which argued, not surprisingly, that the women had repeatedly rejected having identical contract to the men. the USDC entered summary judgment for the federation. Seyfarth got fired because they embarrassed the women at depo by asking, among other things, "don't you lose to teenage boys' teams?"

while the 9th Circuit appeal was pending the women simply voted in new management at the federation. the newly constituted federation (almost entirely women) settled the case in favor of the women.

the women tout this as a great win for equality.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49989419)

https://www.si.com/soccer/2020/04/02/us-soccer-law-firm-uswnt-strategy-seyfarth-shaw-withdraw

this was spun as them withdrawing. in reality the women were pissed that they were asked about certain questions and it became apparent that they were going to vote in an entirely new leadership for the federation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49989804)

It’s like in high school. If the girls team wins the league championship they get honored.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49989454)

Do you think people watched the USMNT games to see Paraguay, austrailia, and Bosnia ?

How can you be this dumb ?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49990479)

And more broadly, the women’s team gets really shit ratings for all games outside of the World Cup, whereas at least the USA men get some level of ratings for big friendlies and big World Cup qualifiers, gold cup final, etc

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49990567)

Also, USL team wouldn’t even qualify for the WC and if we utterly sucked there’d be much less interest.

USMNT also gets larger crowds on average than the USWNT

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49990553)

No thanks!!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49990549)

=====

Aakash Gupta

@aakashgupta

·

Jul 8

The US women's soccer team just earned $6.4 million from a World Cup they never played in. That's more than FIFA paid them for winning the 2015 and 2019 World Cups combined.

Here's the mechanism. FIFA paid the US men $16 million for reaching the round of 16 before Belgium ended their run 4-1 in Seattle. Under the 2022 collective bargaining agreement, US Soccer keeps 20%, and the remaining $12.8 million splits evenly between the men's and women's player pools. $246,153 per player, both rosters.

The agreement exists because the numbers had gotten absurd. Last cycle, the men earned $13 million for a round-of-16 exit in Qatar. The women earned $1.87 million for the exact same round a year later. Same federation, same result, a 7x gap set entirely by FIFA's prize structure.

So the players fixed at the federation level what FIFA wouldn't fix at the tournament level. The two unions pooled all World Cup prize money and split it 50/50, which converts FIFA's pay gap into a shared bank account.

The detail I love: the women's 2027 roster doesn't exist yet. Their $6.4 million sits in an interest-bearing account until the team gets picked next spring, and the interest gets divided among all 52 players.

And it runs both ways. Whatever the women win in Brazil in 2027 gets split with this men's team. The men who just handed over half their payout are holding equity in a squad that's won 4 of the last 9 World Cups. That trade might age very well.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5881187&forum_id=2),#49990606)