Editorial: Support the Women’s game with your wallet, not your hashtags

If you care about equitable pay, go to an NWSL game.

Chants of “Equal Pay! Equal Pay!,” rang throughout the Rose Bowl just like they did in France nearly a month ago when the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team lifted its fourth World Cup.

The USWNT played the first game of its victory tour and to no surprise, the typical American apathy toward soccer, and female sports, in general, was on full display in a 3–0 USWNT exhibition match victory over the Republic of Ireland. Unfortunately, the overwhelming social media support for the USWNT in their quest of equal pay was unsurprisingly absent as only 37,040 fans were in attendance for another dominant performance.

However, what causal supporters of this movement fail to understand is that the simplest and most effective way to support the USWNT pursuit of equal treatment is to monetarily SUPPORT the women’s game especially in non-world cup years.

In other words, if you want to support the cause for equal treatment, the general public must attend more National Women’s Soccer League matches (NWSL) and all age groups of USWNT.

23 of the USWNT players play their club soccer in the NWSL and similar to other female professional leagues, it struggles with league attendance and its ability to pay its players a living wage.

Currently, the NWSL average attendance is about 6,000 fans a game and the league’s minimum salary is $16,538 which is just slightly above the federal poverty line, according to the US Department of Health and Human Service. Even though most of the USWNT players will make the league maximum salary of $46,200, they all rely heavily on the base $100,000 salary and other possible endorsements each player may have.

However, not all of NWSL have the privilege to be on a national team contract and are forced to find second jobs despite being gifted enough to play at the highest level. According to a Seattle Times story from 2017, some players from Reign FC, NWSL franchise, have had to live with host families or share an apartment with fellow teammates as a result of not being able to afford rent in Seattle.

Unlike the Women’s National Basketball Association, only a few of the NWSL clubs share a stadium with an MLS counterpart which reduces some of the expenses of running a club. The NWSL does not release its books on which clubs are profitable but more likely than not the most profitable clubs are the ones who share a stadium with an MLS franchise.

This is why it is so integral fans of all types make a conscious effort to attend as at least one NWSL match a season because, for many of the clubs without an MLS counterpart, every dollar is important to how successfully it can produce a quality product every week.

While the lawsuit is between the national team and the US Soccer Federation, a successful ruling in favor the USWNT would set a precedent and present the beginning of a fundamental change in the way society views women’s professional sports.

Just like in any challenge of the status quo, to change the condescending comparisons of men’s and women’s sports as a justification of unequal treatment may take a generation to change, but the purchasing power of the general public can expedite this societal change.