Equal Pay

I was planning on making this part of the previous post, but it made it too long and wordy. 

One of Rapinoe's crusades is equal pay. For the last few years she has been up on her soapbox, preaching to the world that women deserve equal pay. And her focus has been on the pay disparity between the US Women's team and the US Men's team. While I can't remember the exact numbers, there is a pretty significant difference. And she also compares, justifiably, the difference in success. The USWNT has won multiple World Cups and have medaled in Olympic competition. The men, not so much. This year, the USWNT, along with China and Brazil, are favored to win it all in Tokyo. The USMNT couldn't even qualify. These are her (and others) arguments for equal pay. 

This is all well and good except for one very important point. The entertainment aspect. As I pointed out in the previous post following the USWNT is very much a cyclical thing. During the time between World Cups and the Olympics, the USWNT barely has a following. This is not as true with the USMNT. This is borne out by the TV ratings for "friendlies" and qualifying matches. The men's team routinely have an audience share that is double who watch the women play. As such, and that televised athletic competition is nothing more than entertainment, demanding equal pay doesn't hold water. 

To further underscore the entertainment aspect, let's take a look at Hollywood. In Tinseltown, if you entertain you get paid accordingly. It's not so much how good you are at your craft, but whether or not you can put paying customers in the theater seats. Ed Harris is widely considered one of the finest actors over the last 25 years. I personally believe that he will go down as one of the all-time greats. He has four Oscar nominations, multiple Emmy nominations, and has won several other awards for his accomplishments as an actor. Let's now take a look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. No one in their right mind would compare Arnold's acting abilities to Harris'. In fact, Arnold has multiple Razzie nominations, including a win for the most nominations. But if we were to compare what each actor gets paid, the Austrian Oak would far exceed what Harris gets paid. This is because Arnold puts butts into theater seats on name recognition alone. Even some of his worst movies (the 6th Day, End of Days, Last Action Hero) outperformed Harris's pull at the box office. Is this right? You bet! It's the movies. It's entertainment. 

There is no arguing the USWNT has had much more success than the men's team. But it isn't always about success. It's entertainment. Simply put, the men are better soccer players than the women. Their skills are on a different level. In athletics we want to watch the best because the best entertains us. I don't think anyone could argue that if the two teams were the play against each other the results would be quite lopsided. The men are stronger, faster, and more coordinated. As a case in point, a few years back the USWNT played a match against the men's development squad, under 17. The women lost to a team of teenagers. These were women who were at the top of their game and probably the best team in the world. Yet they still lost to the developmental squad for the USMNT, who can't even qualify for the Olympics or the World Cup. 

I will have to say the disparity in success does make me think. As Americans, we love winners. The USWNT is undoubtedly a raging success. Quite possibly the best team in the world. And while the USMNT is far superior to the Women's team, they have had very little success on the international stage. Why are we not more in love with our women's team? Why are they not the darlings of the USA? With the unquestionable success they have achieved at the international level, why can't they generate a following that would allow them to be paid on a level commensurate with the men? Interesting question and ones too ponder.