Hope Solo Advocates For Equal Pay For Female Athletes On Twitter

Pay these ladies more!

Once the elation of Sunday's World Cup victory for Team USA started to whittle down, one glaring problem began to make headlines: the team had only $2 million to show for their victory.

While final revenue figures are yet to be announced by FIFA, the payout for women competing in the tournament has long been determined. And it is stark in comparison to the Men's World Cup -- revenue, ratings and whatever other figure you want to try and justify it aside. Just for comparison, Germany's men's team took home $35 million in prize money for their 2014 victory.

As such, the calls for higher pay for women have only grown louder, and adding her voice on Tuesday was U.S. Women's National Team goalkeeper Hope Solo.

Solo's teammate, Megan Rapinoe, also weighed in on the pay gap, but she did so even before the U.S.'s win on Sunday.

"FIFA is still doing crazy things like putting our World Cup on artificial turf, but I think the people with the money just need to realize there is money to be made in our game and I think they’re seeing that now," Rapinoe told The Guardian in an article published Saturday.

It's not just the victor's purse that is dramatically smaller for the women than it is for the men, according to The Guardian. The paper reported that $576 million was allocated for teams and clubs who participated in the 2014 tournament. For the Women's World Cup, prize funding was just $15 million.

FIFA officials have pointed to the billion dollars of revenue that the men's tournament brings in for the organization, as well as the global interest in their game. Yet, the women's final on Sunday drew the highest rating ever for a soccer game in U.S. history. We can only assume, or hope, that revenue numbers will also see a spike and that we can finally pay women what they rightfully deserve.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot