Just Joshing Around the Pitch: 4/19/2016

Josh Ouellette

Josh Ouellette

By Josh Ouellette

To start things off, the LA Galaxy had a decisive 4-1 win in Houston last Friday. Which is exactly what LA should do against teams like the Dynamo this season. Giovanni dos Santos looked like the intriguing player he was for La Liga teams like Mallorca and Villarreal and has been as an international for Mexico. He was dynamic and best of all he actually capitalized on his chances for what seems like the first time in a Galaxy shirt.

To which I say: It’s about freaking time. He has the skills to dominate in the MLS and he hasn’t shown it. Maybe it was his proximity to Mexico that helped dos Santos, I don’t know. But if he can replicate that form over the rest of the season… the Galaxy should be alright. Other guys like Sebastian Lleget and Baggio Husidic also put in very strong performances, Steven Gerrard returned, and Gyasi Zardes netted a goal, which is another big boost for the for-the-moment Keane-less Galaxy.

Now to the main topic of this week’s column: #EqualPayForEqualPlay.

Last week President Obama came out in support (Link for hyperlink: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/obama-equal-pay-womens-soccer_us_570d6685e4b0ffa5937d5b8d) of the U.S. Women’s National Team in its quest for equal pay, Democratic Party presidential candidate Hilary Clinton has spoken out in favor of the women as well, just to name just a couple of the big names to back the USWNT.

U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati has illustrated his displeasure with the women handing the federation into the fate of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming the players’ association already were given the extra rights and extra support they sought when signing the last collective bargaining agreement between the two sides.

 Joe Torosian's high school football novel is available through Amazon.com (Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)

Joe Torosian’s high school football novel is available through Amazon.com
(Cover by Pat Cherry www.blackheartart.com)

With even the rumblings of a possible USWNT boycott at the upcoming Olympic games… as this story continues to unfold it is interesting to look into what the head of world football has to say about this.

FIFA’s new president Gianni Infantino talked about the #EqualPayForEqualPlay issue in America with the U.S Women’s National Team during his FS1 special interview with Alexi Lalas. While I may make some enemies in saying this, I think he is right, “there is not a straight forward answer for this.”

Infantino cited the difference between sponsorship deals that go into the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the Men’s World Cup as one of the differences between the $15 million prize FIFA dished out to the USWNT versus the $35 million the German men won a couple of years ago.

While I would agree that in America women’s soccer is at a perennial peak, at least at the national level, throughout the rest of the world I don’t know how many people are sitting at home watching. I’m not saying this is right or wrong, but I believe that’s what Infantino meant. And while of course Infantino mentioned the 50 percent increase from the 2011 women’s total prize money to the 2015 amount, it seemed like a weak consolation to the answer Lalas was looking for, a simple yes or no, I think it is still an important point… The women’s game is still growing, firstly in America, but possibly even more important, around the world.

Infantino went on to point out how important he thought it was to focus more money and aid to the ground-level of women’s soccer around the world. In America, the generation starring in the women’s national team now had a wave of pathfinders before them to cut a trail for the popularity of the game here. It’s hard to believe there is an Alex Morgan without a Mia Hamm, let alone the infrastructure or support in soccer for women starting as girl’s in youth soccer, into high school, and the college level.

Not mentioned in the interview, but something important to note is that the men’s national team was awarded $9 million for their Round of 16 appearance in Brazil. And that’s just money from FIFA alone, not to mention any sponsorships for the men as far as uniforms, and commercials, and the plethora of other big-money factors that go into a worldwide event like the World Cup.

In a perfect world, of course, the World Cup winners of both genders would win the same amount of prize money from FIFA. But the differences in the World Cup in Brazil and the one in Canada don’t have to do with just gender.

The money train isn’t fair starting at the FIFA level, let alone traveling on down to the U.S. Soccer Federation level on down to its players. But there is also a reason why Clint Dempsey makes a heck of a lot more money than Carli Lloyd in their non-national team jobs. In fact, I don’t even have to look to know that Dempsey makes more in one season from the Seattle Sounders than Lloyd’s entire Houston Dash team makes. But I did look, and boy does he.

Major League Soccer isn’t even close to offering the contracts for its best players of the likes of Premier League or other big European leagues. And the National Women’s Soccer League doesn’t even scratch the surface of the MLS when it comes to player compensation. In fact, I started researching the difference and it’s so discouraging that I won’t mention the real numbers, but will divulge the disparity in average salaries is a four-figure number versus a six-figure number.

So here is my take on all of this.

Sure, FIFA’s men’s World Cup may have brought in much more revenue than the women’s, but the billions brought in from the men’s tournament could easily be shared with the women’s teams when it comes to prize money. So just make it even or at least in the same ballpark, or pitch if you will.

And while it’s clear the NWSL and MLS are light-years apart, the salary for professional women’s players is a joke. And if the MLS could help out to further the women’s game at the professional level in a monetary sense, it should. My vote would be for a WMLS a la the WNBA, but the MLS is just now becoming relevant so that would be way down the line if it ever became a popularity.

But when it comes to the women’s team bringing U.S. Soccer to the EEOC, I don’t think that was the right move in a quest for equality.

Sure hundreds of congress members may have voiced support, but what else are they going to say? “No, we think they’re compensated fairly.”

That would be like public figures saying “boy’s rule and girl’s drool, Nee Ner Nee Ner Nee Ner.”

I think U.S. Soccer has tried to give the players of the women’s national team more of what they want when it comes to the “extra benefits” the women receive versus the men. Does it equal the difference in pay? Probably not, so let’s just make up that difference after these benefits are taken into account and call it a day. And let’s do it legally when the next collective bargaining agreement is on the table so everyone is happy on all sides.

If there’s no USWNT at the 2016 Olympics this summer, that is on the players not the U.S. Soccer Federation. Trying to blackmail a non-profit federation that has helped develop the game their playing like no other organization in the world seems greedy to me.

Josh Ouellette is a self-proclaimed lover of the Beautiful Game who feverously supports West Ham United (EPL) and the LA Galaxy (MLS). His thoughts and opinions are his own and if you have any thoughts on his opinions he can be reached via Twitter (@JoshoYouKnow).

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