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Originally Posted by tredadda
While I appreciate your stance, at least in America sponsors pay for ads where they will get the most eyeballs. Women do not watch women's soccer and men by and large do not care outside of big events like the World Cup. Even then the revenue generated by the men's World Cup dwarfs the women's one. FIFA can't invest more money in tournament pay than they bring in. Perhaps they can bump it higher, but no way the women come close to what the men make without robbing Peter to pay Paul.
If paragraph two is accurate then that says something and it's fair to think the men's team should reimburse the women's one for that.
Good luck on growing women's soccer outside of the national team. We can call it what we want or excuse it how we want, but the fact is no one cares about professional women's sports leagues in America. Men by and large do not want to watch women compete unless they are scantily dressed. Women do not follow women's sports. If they were to care even a little then the whole narrative would change, but as it stands, more women watch men's sports than their own.
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Women and especially girls absolutely watch women's soccer. Nike sells a shitload of women's jerseys. It is a money maker. Not only are world cup ratings outstanding for the US, they're pulling in good attendance for meaningless exhibition games. They won't capture as many men but they don't care nor do they need to.
And it's not just about pure ad revenue. Did you know the sports bra market is $43b and has a 12% cagr (growth rate). It's expected to double in a few years. It's doing to women's apparel what tiger woods did to golf. It created a whole new category. Girls who weren't playing any sports are now buying cleats and jerseys and sports bras and all kinds of soccer shit. More importantly, it's great for advertisers. It's less eyeballs but they're extremely targeted. Women's brands can specifically target women and don't have to compete with other sports for eyeballs. Ive never watched a womens pro game but can assure you soccer mom's of soccer girls have.
A lot of what you're saying is where MLS was decades ago. Everyone said MLS would never catch on in the US. It's amateur soccer versus European leagues. It took years of shedding shit markets, building new stadiums, expansion,changing ownership, investment... Buying up big salaries even when the attendance wasn't there. Luxuries Nwsl was never afforded. but we're seeing it start to materialize. West coast teams are pulling 15-20k. Kc is building a new stadium because they're filling their current one. Can't really judge the product when they haven't put the love into it. But the growth potential is absolutely there