Women's soccer vs. men's soccer

I read a Tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after the American women's soccer team won the World Cup. She insisted that the women should earn twice as much as the men because the men have not had as much success in a different but related competition. Many people supported her by insisting that level is irrelevant. All that matters is the number of championships.



By this logic, single A baseball players winning a championship should be paid the same as major league champions. The arguments for higher pay are so absurd that there are two things that are too easy to overlook. One is that there might actually be a rational argument buried under the absurdities. The other is that their critics are also making some big mistakes.

Before I go any further, let me write a little about women's sports. There are two primary ways in which to deal with sports in regards to gender. Personally, I prefer that sports are not gendered. I may explain my reasoning in the future. The other is to divide genders. In the case of FIFA and US Soccer, they embrace gender division. Most sports leagues actually embrace a hybrid. The top leagues typically lack a gender requirement, although women have yet to reach these leagues. Lesser leagues for women only have emerged.

For those who divide genders, there are two primary approaches to payments. They can either be paid based off the revenue they help produce or they can be paid equally. This is a bit of an oversimplification since there are options for paying between these two.

When it comes to the debate over how much these women are paid, a lot of people are comparing to the big four. Baseball, basketball, football, and ice hockey focus primarily on sports leagues. While many sports leagues are considered non-profit the teams included are clearly for-profit businesses. These sports also have international governing bodies much like FIFA. Some people might be familiar with the International Ice Hockey Federation, but how many people have heard of the International Federation of American Football? Unlike the big four, soccer's governing body is more influential on the sport than any for-profit league.

While there are overlaps between the goals of governing bodies and for-profit leagues, there are substantial differences in their priorities. The leagues are trying to make money for the teams. Growing the game can help increase the number of fans attending games, but this is not nearly as important to them as the money. By contrast, governing bodies are more interested in growing the game than the money. Yes, money can certainly help grow a game, but money is not a primary objective. Keep in mind that FIFA pays athletes a much smaller portion of revenue than the for-profit leagues.

To an extent, it makes sense to base pay off of the revenue generated. Under this model, athletes are more likely to try to increase revenues. Of course, this model makes more sense when revenues are a top priority. Within US Soccer, there might actually be an argument here to increase women's pay. Although women are falling well short of the revenue for men on an international level, there have been signs that women are generating more than men on a national level.

Let's not just look at US Soccer. What about FIFA? They should not be looking at pay purely to maximize revenue. With their objectives, pay should focus more on the best way to grow the game. I don't know the organization's financial structure, but I'm not entirely sold on tying pay too closely to revenue. Women make up about half the world's population. The idea that the men's game has become so dominant raises serious questions regarding opportunity for growth. This doesn't mean that women should be paid more. After all, this would reward a gender for having less interest.

The sports in which women are treated closest to the men have been sports that embrace gender division. Again, this is not my preference, but it does allow a more level playing field. This is because avoiding crossovers between genders eliminates any direct comparisons between genders. As much as people don't want to hear this, men are consistently outperforming women in elite sports. By dividing the genders, you have more flexibility to treat the genders as equals. That can potentially include options to pay athletes for winning championships rather than bringing in revenue.