Megan Rapinoe

https://www.skysports.com/football/...e-usa-women-forward-renews-call-for-equal-pay

She's still fighting for equal pay even though the female standard isn't anywhere near as good, doesn't pull in regular huge crowds and doesn't get the TV ratings the men do. As one of the top women players she can't expect the same pay as the male equivalent like a Ronaldo or a Messi. They should be paid more though and the new TV contract with Sky/BBC is a step in the right direction. If the games on BBC pull in millions of viewers then when this contract is up to be renewed in a couple of years it will go for more.

 

In America the women's football team has achieved more than the men's.

 

Absolutely but I think she's on about in general.

 

The hearing was about US soccer.

 

It's for when they represent the national team. I think she's right.

At club level everyone negotiates their own contract, or their agents do, so there's no equal pay within genders or even clubs.

 

did you not read the article or not understand it?

 

agreed

 

It's a tricky one isn't it because success and revenue generation aren't the same thing.

Should you be paid more for being more successful in weaker competition? Or be paid more for being less successful in a much harder competition but generating higher levels of revenue?

In general I'd say as a business they should be paid based on their revenue generation otherwise using the same logic Lauren Bruton who plays in the premier League for Reading should get paid more than John Swift who only plays in the championship for Reading. We all know that would be ludicrous.

However the US women's team is a rare anomaly in the world of football in that I believe the women's team does actually match if not beat the men's team for revenue as well and certainly for exposure.
I don't know the ins and outs of the revenue generation etc over there but one thing's for certain, they shouldn't be paid less simply because they're the women's team.

 

The link that's been posted is only about American soccer and i think she's right.

 

Are national teams a business? I wouldn't describe them as such. More the representatives of a governing body.

 

The key point I got from that quote was bringing back the gold medals. Which the male team has failed to get anywhere near doing.

 

Well isn't the FA itself a limited company? as far as I'm aware they operate the national teams as businesses when you look at it. They sell TV rights etc for those teams, sell sponsorship for the teams, sell tickets and merchandise and operate the teams at a profit (which is then used to fund other aspects of football)

I'm not saying Megan is wrong. I think she's absolutely right. The women's team is more successful, brings in more revenue, brings in a bigger audience and ticks just about every single box for being more valuable than the mens.

 

Which is what I said.

 

I'd class them more as a not-for-profit organization (or at least they should be, as any money made should be pumped back into the game).

The England team generates a huge amount of money for the FA, though. That's why they are always trying to arrange the "prestige" friendly matches against the other top teams, rather than the smaller, emerging nations. For that reason, any money earned from representing the teams should have both a performance-based component and an income-based component(say, a guarantee that x% of the profits from a match/tour/tournament goes to the players that generated it). The percentage/formula should be the same across both sexes, and through all age groups to make it fair. That way it provides financial motivation to perform and improve your standard, which in turn should improve the revenue(and thus their individual income).

Over in the 'States, the women's team is largely presented as being on equal footing to the men's game, so the match fee for appearing for each team should be equal.

n.b. Obviously, in an ideal world, the incentive would be to represent your country and be proud to do so. But we all know we live in a world where money trumps all!

 

what I like about Megan Rapinoe is that she stands up for what she believes and it doesn't matter if that affects her or not

 

I'm not saying they don't earn money when they can, I'm suggesting that's not their modus operandi. We'd have a national football team if there was no money to be made. I realise that's all got a bit confused in our capitalist society, but Marks and Spencers don't operate for the thrill of selling pants. It's to make money and if selling pants no longer made money they'd stop selling them. If the FA found there was a greater profit in selling bananas than having a national football team they wouldn't give up on the football to get into the banana business. It will always be football and if they can make money they will.

 

As did Rose Reilly back in the early seventies.
Rose the only Scottish World Cup winner.
Won the Women’s World Cup with Italy. The story is on google.
And as an aside my sister in law won 6 Scottish caps late seventies.

 

I’d watch it if they arranged a US men v women exhibition match. Imagine the female centre halves up against Big Daryl!