For all the bloviating above, no one has crunched the $ numbers for winning the WC. First, the women's NT is unionized & has a collective bargaining agreement with the USSF for salaries & bonuses. Then FIFA has sole control over payouts to team who wins. Then, as mentioned, there is a payout to team members for Victory Tour. Salary, bonuses, WC win payout & victory tour equals about $325K. $75k of that is paid before tourney for making the team & qualifying.
Then, there is personal & team marketing & licensing revenue which, as we know, can be very lucrative. Money from such as Nike, Adiddas, EA sports for the stars is unknown but should be a bunch. There are 25 & counting companies with licensing agreements where money is pooled & paid in equal shares to all team members, for everything from shoes, jerseys to bobblehead dolls. Again, how much cash for the whole team's share of these agreements is unknown but should be a nice chunk of change. So, I'm guessing a half a mill to each team member with much more to the stars. Add another $50K for qualifying for the Olympics next year(which we should do easily as world champs).
I'm not sure when the next union contract comes up for renewal but I'd make sure we had a toughA$$ negotiator boosting those salaries & bonuses. Or, failing that, leave club team & go to Europe where women's futbol is becoming way more popular & lucrative especially for the big club teams. Or, file a lawsuit to get more $. Of course, that's what they're doing now & the jist of this thread. I think it's sad that the team & their union are sueing to get more $. The honor & priviledge of playing for & representing your country apparently means little because their pay isn't equal to the men. Well hell, the quality of their futbol isn't even close to that of the men's teams-the ol' physical difference between men & women thang. Equal pay will never happen...never & it shouldn't, simply based on
the quality of play, the loyalty of fans to their teams & and the history of the game since the Brit's invented it. And bringing politics into the game-also sad. But, that's the way of the world these days, at least in the USA & I guess I'll get over it-eventually.