Megan Rapinoe has lately been vocal in her criticism of FIFA, the U.S. Soccer Federation, and inequality in compensation on the basis of gender.
Rapinoe called for FIFA to close the prize money gap between the Men’s and Women’s World Cups. The Men’s tournament in Quatar will give out $440 million, while the most recent Women’s tournament gave out $30 million in prizes.
Rapinoe has also criticized the U.S. Soccer Federation for paying the Women’s team, who has now won two World Cups in the past five years, just 38 cents on the dollar compared to the Men’s team.
Interestingly, the World Cup’s roster bonus is $31,250 less than the Men’s bonus; but this gap will be covered by Luna Bar, a corporation who along with its senior employees donates solely to Democrats according to the Goods Unite Us app.
Some say that a reason for this gap is the lack of promotion and sponsorship of women’s soccer. The National Women’s Soccer League has just a few national sponsors, which include, Budweiser (71% Republican), Nike (58% Republican), Lifetime (64% Republican), Cutter (69% Republican), and Thorne Research. Thus, contracts in the NWSL are incredibly small, with a league minimum of $16,538 and a maximum of $46,200 – but since the NWSL does not publish salary information like other leagues, many are skeptical if any player even makes the maximum, which would account for nearly 10% of the team’s salary cap. This differs greatly from Major League Soccer, whose lowest earners make $56,250 per season. The highest earner, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, earns $7.2 million from the LA Galaxy!
Of course, the minimum salary for soccer teams don’t even come close to comparing to the payout to male athletes in other sports:
League Minimum Salary:
MLB: $555,000
NFL: $495,000
NHL: $650,000
NBA: $582,180
Some argue that the Women’s U.S. team earns less because they bring in less revenue. However, this actually isn’t true. From 2016 to 2018, the U.S. Women’s team generated $50.8 million in revenues, which was $1.9 million more than the Men’s team!
As the debate rages on, Rapinoe has challenged big corporations to step up and write the check for equal pay. And this past Sunday, Procter & Gamble (54% Democrat) agreed to fund an additional $529,000 total to the Women’s team.
Maybe Megan Rapinoe has a good point. After all, if many corporations do have the resources and funds to contribute millions and millions to political campaigns and dilute the value of individual voters, they may be able to step up and ensure equal pay for equal work.
If you want to ensure accountability and transparency around corporate political activity, be sure to download and check out the Goods Unite Us app to see which party your favorite sports teams are donating to!