Pay Equity Pt. 3: Will Women Ever Catch On To Women's Sports?
“Where are all the feminists? That place should be packed with feminists — faces painted, wearing jerseys, going f—ing nuts like the guys do! None of you went to the f—ing games. You failed them. Not me. Not men — women failed the WNBA. “— Bill Burr
There are now just two weeks till the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament is played in Australia and New Zealand, and if this event can’t grab a female audience during sport’s sleepy season it never will.
One player who always grabs media attention is the American veteran Megan Rapinoe who’s used the spotlight to promote her LGBTQ2 lifestyle, her curious grasp of sports economics and her purple hair. So, naturally, Rapinoe made a surprise announcement to draw attention to herself: she will call it quits this year after a 17-year career as the USA’s lightning rod.
Her media worshippers describe it as an “ground-shaking” announcement. Which puts a new spin of tectonics, even for the sports media. Yes, she’s their darling. But the fact is that, for all the goodwill and media massaging, Rapinoe is a distraction. And women’s soccer remains a niche sport… among women.
The media saturation for the women’s game is paramount to the arguments for pay equity in soccer and several other women’s sports. While Wimbledon and other high-profile events have made it their policy— despite dubious economics— to offer pay equity, Rapinoe and her colleagues have wisely chosen to use political— not market— economics to balance the pay sheet.
While the consumer model is deaf to their pleas, progressive governments are all-too-eager to fall over themselves in helping women’s sport for equity purposes. U.S. Title IX has been both a gift from politicians and a bonanza for women athletes. (Although now it’s being perverted by the @Trans lobby.)
Canada’s women have chosen the political route, too, but negotiations with Soccer Canada have been fraught with talk of strikes and bad faith. As we wrote in February of 2023, “What is baffling in this bun fight is that both sides seem agreed on the issue of equal pay for the woman players. ”Pay equity for our Women's National Team is at the core of our ongoing player negotiations. Canada Soccer will not agree to any deal without it," the statement said.
Fine. They can do whatever they want with the money generated by World Cups and other tournaments played by men and women. If they want that split 50/50, so be it. And they agree that the women’s team is a national treasure.
But about equal pay for work of equal value… we have yet to see Canada’s women’s soccer generate anything like what the men generate from World Cups etc. Not even close. Attempts to establish a Canadian pro league for women are dormant. So the money to balance that equation has to come from somewhere else. The men aren’t giving up what they earn. Government? Cui compromitto? Cui bono?
As we wrote in July of 2019, “So where is the money supposed to come from to equal Megan Rapinoe’s pay with Lionel Messi or Paul Pogba? Clearly, women’s soccer does not generate the money men’s soccer does. In calling their treatment unfair, the women players seemed to be implying that public money should be shifted to benefit them.”
When this argument on “eating what you kill” was made in negotiations for the American soccer teams, the women sued for discrimination. (After an early decision in their favour, the suit was dismissed on appeal). They asked, “Aren’t women paid the same at Wimbledon?”— and they only play three sets to the mens’ five? Executives quickly capitulated to the howling mob on social media.”
But that still doesn’t placate women athletes who insist they are victims of discrimination. As we wrote, “The problem Megan Rapinoe and her colleagues have— one that they share with women in many, but not all sports— is that they can’t even make the sale to their fellow women. Statistically women are 51 percent of the population. Yet, outside a few sports like figure skating or during Olympiads, their fellow women take a pass on buying tickets or cable TV subscriptions to watch them.”
Not much has changed in this regard since 2019. There are huge new piles of money coming into sports from digital rights and gambling, and men still generate the lion’s share. How nowhere is women’s sport? They’ve legalized gambling on women’s sports— and still no one goes near them.
Salty comedian Bill Burr admires the skills and dedication of women athletes, but he says there’s only one culprit in this wonky economics. “Look at the WNBA: they have been playing in front of 300 to 400 people a night for a quarter of a century. Not to mention, it’s a male-subsidized league. We gave you a league, and none of you showed up.
Ladies, name your top five WNBA players of all time. Name five WNBA teams. Name the WNBA team in your city. You can’t do it!” You’re playing in a 20,000-seat arena — 1,500 people show up. That’s not a good night!”
Look, if people want the emotional feminist argument, fill your boots. In the land of good will and virtuous notions Christine Sinclair should get the entertainment money generated by women. But she’s not.
That money, as Burr points out, is going to entertainment vehicles like The Kardashians and RuPaul. Advertisers follow the audience and, despite equal pay settlements across sport, the money is not going to women’s sports. And when we hear political radicals assail men’s sports for drowning out women’s sports, we say, physician heal thyself. The cure lies in your hands, not men’s.
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Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his new book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His 2004 book Money Players was voted sixth best on the same list, and is available via http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx