USMNT vs. USWNT

I can’t believe that there are still people in the world who are sufficiently ignorant of economics that they don’t understand why the players on the US Women’s National Soccer Team are paid less than their male counterparts… for the “same job.”

Econ 101, supply and demand. All employees, including athletes, are paid based on the revenue their work generates. The Men’s National team generates a LOT more money than the women’s team does, and therefore, there is more money available to be dsitributed as wages to the male players. It’s really that simple.

Now if the women want to argue that some of the revenue generated by the men needs to be redistributed to the women because the women win more championships, then they should make that argument. But I have not heard them say that. They’re saying that they should be paid the exact same amount as the men, even if there is no gate (or TV) revenue to cover those salaries. Like any good Marxist, they never explain where the extra money would come from.

Leaving aside for a second whether covering the Japanese women’s team’s star striker is the same job as covering Lionel Messi, arguing that the women should be paid the same as the men because they do the same job is a little like saying the owner of a burger shack in Detroit should be paid the same as the CEO of McDonald’s.

As with everything in life, of course, the reality of what the women are asking for is much more complicated and the issues more nuanced, but everyone from Rapinoe to the Press to the President presents the argument as “equal pay for equal work” and so I have no choice but argue the point as presented. If it’s about better hotels or training facilities or getting the same CBA as the men, then they should say so instead of going to the White House, shouting about “equal pay for equal work” and pushing out the hashtag #equalpayday. Because on the merits, that argument is D.O.A.