Pay for great play: USWNT deserves more than admiration

The United States Women’s National Team has done everything in its power to remain front of mind when it comes to the pitch, making sure people know the players' names. From Mia Hamm to Abby Wambach, the USWNT has been front and center since its inception back in 1985. 

Sure, the U.S. Men’s National Team has had some memorable moments and the 2014 World Cup was fun, but one can scarcely remember anything the USMNT has done the way Brandi Chastain is remembered dropping to her knees, jersey off, in total celebratory jubilation after pinning the winning goal, left-footed, into the back of the net. China’s keeper had kept a clean sheet, but the USWNT scored on all five penalty kicks to lock up the 1999 FIFA World Cup.

The 2015 Women’s World Cup Final set a record for the most watched soccer game in U.S. history.  With over 23 million people tuning in to watch Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd and company, the game surpassed the viewership and fandom of the famous 1999 World Cup team. To give perspective on just how many people watched the 2015 Women’s World Cup Final from a sports perspective, roughly 23 million people also tuned in to watch Game 7 of the World Series in 2014 between the San Francisco Giants and the Kansas City Royals.

In the 25 years since the United States won its first women’s World Cup, all they have done is captivate audiences by winning three World Cups and narrowly and devastatingly losing a fourth in 2011 to the same Japanese team they conquered in 2015. They have taken third in the World Cup three times, won four Olympic gold medals and a silver medal. Despite all these successes — despite being far and away better than the USMNT has been at any point in its history, the women’s team can't seem to find a way to level the playing field when it comes to the salaries players receive.

“But the USMNT brings in more in advertising and TV deals!” A valid argument, except, well… it's not.The USWNT brought in more revenue in 2015 than the USMNT did and is projected to do so again this year. The United States may be one of the only teams where the women are better than the men are from an international perspective, but these teams aren’t being paid by Germany, Italy, Portugal or Spain. The United States Soccer Federation is paying both U.S. teams, and as such, the pay should reflect the body of work provided. 

The USMNT failed to qualify for this year's Olympics, tying a game it had to win to make it into the games. This is just another example of the men’s team failing to produce at an acceptable level on the international stage. The U.S. public is not asking the men’s team to go out and bring home a gold medal, but to not even make it into the games? That is not something that should be taken lightly. It's fairly clear that the men’s team is a long ways away from bringing home a World Cup or Copa America title, and it seems evident that the men’s team is light years behind the women’s team.

To be fair, this is through no fault of the men. The men’s game has been around a lot longer than the women’s game, and America still views soccer as the redheaded stepchild that doesn’t quite fit in with the four major sports in terms of popularity. That said, it’s not the women’s fault they are able to dominate the competition and bring this country together in a way the USMNT can hardly imagine. It is almost as if the USWNT has followed Mia Hamm’s Gatorade commercial with Michael Jordan by trying to prove that anything the men can do, the women can do better… and they are right.

With the USMNT not qualifying for the Olympics and the USWNT being a favorite to bring home its fifth Olympic gold this summer, it is fair to say the women’s team has more than held up its end of the bargain. This is a team that has demanded and earned the love, respect and attention from even the most casual sports fan for over three decades, not just for less money, but while traveling and playing under conditions the men's side has not had to face — from lousy field conditions and cut-rate travel accommodations to even having smaller per diems to feed themselves on the road. The least that can be done for these women who put their bodies on the line for the entertainment of the viewing public is to be paid as much (if not much, much more) than the men’s team. The players certainly think so and even have gone as far as selling T-shirts to call attention to their situation with U.S. Soccer.