The View Bashes Pay Disparity Between U.S. Men’s and Women’s Soccer Teams: ‘Straight Sexism’

In a rare show of unanimous agreement, The View co-hosts all slammed the pay disparity between the U.S. Men’s and Women’s soccer teams.

“The U.S. Women’s team brings in more revenue than the men’s, more people watch them. So the question is why they are still only getting 18 cents on the dollar,” Whoopi Goldberg opened with on The View Monday.

“We were just speaking about that backstage because apparently — it’s not a little bit of money, but they get $250,000 for their win. A man would have gotten $1.1 million for the win,” Sunny Hostin said.

“But what is the purpose? I mean, because soccer players are soccer players. So why is there such a disparity? It’s not like women can’t play this game. I don’t understand,” Whoopi continued.

“The ticket sales, supply and demand. You want to go, the ticket sales determine the amount of money you should be paid. It’s obviously sexism. What else could you say?” said Joy Behar.

Meghan McCain too called out the disparity as sexism. “Go by capitalism. I can’t name one male player, and we can all name several female players at this point because they have all become stars. I think it’s straight sexism.”

“I think it’s going to change because apparently the U.S. Women’s national team has sued. They have sued,” said Hostin.

According to the Washington Post, all 28 female players of the U.S. Women’s team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in March. They alleged that they are paid less than men and provided with less support, despite consistently better performance. The lawsuit also states the team’s success has “translated into substantial revenue generation and profits” for USSF, and as of late the Women’s National Team earned more in profit and revenue.

The soccer federation denied the claims, saying that the pay differential between men and women players is “based on differences in aggregate revenue generated by the different teams and/or any other factor other than sex” and that the two teams are “physically and functionally separate organizations.”

The two teams have separate collective-bargaining agreements and pay structures. For example, players on the women’s team make a base salary and can earn performance-based bonuses, whereas players on the men’s team earn only bonuses.

Then, the World Cup has an entirely different pay structure. FIFA — an international organization — sets the prize money award and the USSF distributes it based on the team’s collective bargaining agreement. The total prize money for the Women’s World Cup in 2019 is $30 million, whereas the Men’s in 2018 was $400 million.

But the Men’s World Cup generated $6.1 billion in revenue, while the 2015 Women’s World Cup generated $73 million.

In short, the U.S. women deserve more than the U.S. men. But they are an isolated case in world soccer. Nearly everywhere else, the men are the major revenue drivers.