The BBC has researched that football is one of the few sports that don’t reward equal prize money in at least one of its major events.
Grand Slams in tennis, Squash and Hockey give the same financial reward to both men and women teams, while Cricket’s The Hundred and Big Bash League now have identical pay outs regardless of gender.
The study has shown that since 2017 Football has one of the most uneven differences in what a male and female earn if they are competing in the same competition.
Governing bodies are not pressuring Football to give both genders the same salary but argue that both sexes getting the same funds for success have seen increases in turnover in other sports, more sponsorship and participation.
As the World Champions, USA have long battled for equal pay arguing that it’s morally wrong that even winning a World Cup doesn’t pay as much as their less successful male counterparts get for simply showing up.
How can FIFA claim the sport is equal when one Men’s World Champions get 27 million (France) and the other just 2.9 million?
In England Arsenal ladies are probably the closest to relating to the US women.
Our ladies have won 9 titles since the men did but only last year did the WSL give a set sum to the Champions – 100,000. To put that in perspective Liverpool’s title was worth 35 million.
The UK rightfully pats itself on the back for the progress made in the Women’s Game, but perception is not the reality. Considering all revenue, last season Mikel Arteta’s worst League Finish in two decades was still worth over 130 million.
What message are you giving to young girls who see their role models be successful, but not even close to being compensated like the gunners men are for failing?
My answer to that is unfortunately the popularity and quality of Men and Women’s Football are so different they are separate sports. We live in a society where we are scared to say that out of fear of being accused of Sexism.
The numbers show that an audience for Women’s Football is growing. If England hosted a Women’s World Cup, tickets would sell far more than even as recently as five years ago.
Those in charge need to think of how to keep that momentum going, which Is why I suggested in the past occasionally getting 2 for one on your ticket, see a WSL and PL fixture on the same afternoon.
Yet despite the increase in ratings, the last Women’s World Cup was a third of the 1.12 billion people who tuned in for the men’s version.
Could the disparity in pay be smaller? Of course (and it will at the next World Cup).
Would it further help the female game grow? Of course.
Yet Football is no different to any other business, it’s priority Is to make money.
Where the BBC study tries to highlight how noble these sports are for equal pay, they wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t see a gap in the market.
Former UFC Champion Ronda Rousey has often said the sport didn’t do her a favour because she was female, at a time when interest in Fighting was waning, promoters saw that numbers for female fighting were huge and acted accordingly. She got paid more than her male peers because she brought more revenue in. That to me is the true meaning of gender equality.
In 2018 the Women’s Final of Wimbledon had more viewers than the men’s showpiece the following day. That’s why in tennis you can have that debate more than you can in Football.
Through ticket sales, marketing, TV distribution, there is not enough evidence that the interest is there for BT or Sky Sports to take a gamble.
Quite simply, Football makes so much money they don’t need to take the gamble and see if another version grows.
If any female team can garner enough commercialism it will be the American ladies team who as individuals have made their own lucrative deals. Yet what they can’t argue with as much as mini celebrities they have become in the US, it’s nothing compared to the noise that would be made if the men’s team did the same.
It’s a Chicken and egg situation. Interest in the likes of the Arsenal Women team will only grow if quality in the game improves. If it does the more investment it gets. That will only be improved if money is invested in the first place.
Football has enough spare money in the bank to invest, but is there enough of a reason?
Be kind in the Comments
Dan
It’d depend on the team’s profit
This ongoing gender debate in sports is completely illogical.
It’s quite simple really…. your benefits/incentives/compensation should be based on the amount of revenue that you/your team brings into the club, regardless of gender.
Furthermore it took well over 100 years of mens football gaining interest and adding quality year after year to get where it’s at with a much narrower reach considering technologies for the majority of the time.
Why should women’s football expect to not have to go through the same tedious process of building interest in the sport, especially considering technology making it more readily available for viewing?
We’ll put. It’s not about gender it’s about what revenue etc us brought in. Should league 1 and champisonship be on the same money and incentives as prem. No because not as many ppl watch
In terms of football quality, the women’s is not that far from men’s, at least in terms of enjoyment. It is true that they can’t be paid more than what they bring, but I see the quality and think it should bring more revenue than it does right now.
Perhaps more should be done to raise awareness as their football is really enjoyable.
I find the quality of goal keeping to be poor ?
Very poor and it doesn’t seem to improve. It may be because of biology. I think it doesn’t take away the enjoyment though. It doesn’t have to competitive to be entertaining.
HH I much doubt your view about them being equally enjoyable is shared by most male fans IF they are being totally honest of course and not just virtue signalling. IF you were right, surely womens crowds would be FAR higher than they are.
You are right in both your points. There is a big difference between watching men’s football especially in a league one is invested in to that of women.
What I say about enjoyment is that I can sit and watch a women’s game just like I enjoy watching games of leagues I am not interested in or watching international football or even other sports just for entertainment and nothing else.
Women’s football deliver that entertainment to me.
Easy solution scrap women and mens football and just make it football, if you good enough to play then men and women olay in same team. If you not good enough, too bad.
For this topic it would be very interesting to see how much one club or nation really make through a competition and what expenses they have and what percentages go to the players
But i am 100% sure that the men probably get a bigger share than they deserve in contrast to their performances whereas women probably earn less than they should comparing it to how much they earn for their club/nation..
For example auba will never earn more than his salary for arsenal and seeing that arsenal had no success in the last years our players are vastly overpaid with the money they bring into the club
so yes women should earn more and men should earn less but men and women should NOT earn the same amount
I believe totally in inclusivity but I also believe in total truth and on womens football I am torn between two conflicting thoughts, as follows: Firstly, womens football being more prominent now than in the bad old days of yesteryear is clearly a great thing.
However, in a team sport where physical strength and speed is also a key part of the successand excitement of any team, it is undeniable that womens football loses much by comparison with mens in sheer excitement and drama. One huge problem women have by comparison is in the goalkeeper position where the difference between the sexes is MOST obvious.
I do watch womens football sometimes but not always, whereas I watch mens football constantly. Truthfully, I just cannot enjoy it at the same level and I am merely being honest. I wish it further success and I much hope and believe it will continue to thrive but this fan can never get anywhere near as passionate as I do about the mens game. This applies even with our own mens and womens teams.
SORRY BUT I MUST BE HONEST AND THAT IS WHAT I FEEL AND THINK.
As to DANS article, I do believe in equal pay BUT I also recognise that in the commercial world that is all important if the womens game is to keep on growing, money is the prime determinent factor and that depends on how many people will watch and buy the products and services advertised on TV commercial world compared to mens game.
In the foreseeable future I just do not see the money in the womens game making the sort of regular jumps we all see in the mens game. Not fairness I will be the first to admit, BUT it is the reality.
I SUSPECT THAT THIS WILL ONLY CHANGE COMPLETELY WHEN THE VERY YOUNG GENERATION OF FANS HAS GROWN UP IN AN AGE WHERE WOMENS FOOTBALL HAS THE SAME PROFILE AND COMMONNESS AS MENS . And that is going to be decades hence, IMO, sad though I find that to be.
Blame my generation by all means, as it is we older ones by and large, who will feel just as I do when watching both. I’d love to know how the younger Gooners on here think and feel.
I agree with your last point. Every new generation comes with changes. Those changes may benefit or not benefit the women football but perhaps if the organizations concerned should try to raise interest from the younger ones.
Men and women should earn equal pay regardless how much money comes in for tickets, merchandise etc.
Imagine you had a company that brought in $100 per month.
You have 2 employees that are responsible for the revenue. One consistently brings in $90 and the other consistently $10.
Or
You have 2 tv shows. One is watched by 100 million people and the other is watch by 1 million people. Do you think advertisers will pay the same to advertise during both shows?
Do you really think they deserve the same pay every month based soley on their chromosomes and nothing else? Bit silly
Have you thought about WHO will pay it thoughand from wher the money will come? Principles are fine and important but so is practicality. Surely, at least if you are a really deep thinking person!
And that’s the problem with political correctness..
World population is relatively close to 50/50 in terms of gender.
Women alone could bring up female football revenue equal to mens. So lets ask why aren’t women watching football and helping out their sisters?
I don’t think it’s exclusive as women having to like women’s football
I know lots of girls who simply prefer men’s football