As expressed in the enclosed NY Times Article, the spotlight of European "futbol" is undoubtedly on that of men's clubs. Major teams such as FC Barcelona here in Spain, AC Milan in Italy, and PSG in France, all have extensive men's programs that are well recognized throughout the world. In the midst of debates concerning raising the salary caps in order to allow clubs to pay their players more and have more money to spend in general, the same topic of conversation for women's soccer often gets overlooked.
As of recent, an outlier club in the heart of Tuscany, Italy, namely Fiorentina, hopes to be given the chance to begin a large developmental change as they recognize that "football is for everyone... not just men" (Borden, 1). With this being said, women of Italian football encourage being allocated a budget that is just and somewhat equal to not only their male counterparts but also other areas of Europe. Statistically, their teams are given a budget that is seven million Euros less than that of France, and in Norway, who has a population about a tenth the size of Italy's, there is a women's soccer budget that is nearly twice as big.
Clearly, although Italian male football is well respected, women are not given the same opportunity to earn their name. No league games are ever broadcasted on TV. In other words, sexism is prevailing in a society where we finally thought the issue has been overcome. To counter this, proponents of women's soccer have pledged to see a rise in their salary caps, along with a promise to be made that Serie A teams start funding their women counterparts. Although the success of this plan may be far off, everything needs to see a start somewhere. Hopefully steps in the right direction will continue to be made towards equality.
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/11/sports/soccer/in-italy-a-top-club-stands-alone-in-supporting-womens-soccer.html?_r=0
This is a question of economics with demand. If the demand is not high, then you cannot get high paying sponsorship and commercial deals. If you are unable to get these deals, you cannot pay the women soccer players as much as the males. You cannot pay females the same as males if the league is not as profitable.
ReplyDeleteI somewhat agree with Tyler's comment above. It is true that the demand for women's football is not nearly at the place it is for men's football. However, this is somewhat due to the way we raise females in society. Sports, in general, are much more heavily pushed on boys when growing up and they have many more athletic role models to look up to. The root of the problem regarding an increase in women's opportunities to earn more is general interest in female sports and in females playing sports.
ReplyDelete-Darcy Horn
This issue has been brought up over the world for years. Yes, it is not fair right now to pay the women players the same amount as the men because of their lack of a fan base, but I think that the league should do all that they can to get their games on the television. If women's games are not broadcasting, there is no way that the fan base will ever increase. More social media is also a good way to increase its popularity. Hopefully, after some time, women's sports can become more popular and there will be enough money to pay the sports players more.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to sports, money and viewership go hand in hand. If there is not a high enough demand for women's football, it will not be broadcasted on TV. If it is not broadcasted on TV, the leagues will not be nearly as profitable. If the league and clubs do not profit, salaries cannot be raised. This reality is somewhat of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. It is difficult to figure out the best starting point, but until there is a large enough audience interested in watching women's football, I don't see the situation changing any time soon.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Ladell
I think would should have the opportunity to get equal pay to men because that is unfair to discriminate pay just because of someone's sex. And I think this is where most millennials ideologies are heading. However, I think it gets tricky to be able to pay these players if there is no demand to watch these games because then the cycle we learned in class is ruined; there are no sponsors, thus not sufficient amount of funds to pay the women. Perhaps in Norway there is a demand and that is why they are being paid more. Unfortunately, while I think this is in some part a futbol issue, it seems to me that in Italy's case it is more of a social issue and perhaps someway futbol can help fix the issue in a way by being able to set the equal pay example on a big scale that gets a lot of exposure. How to do this though, I have no idea.
ReplyDeleteThe bottom line is that professional sports are a business. The leagues, the teams, and the sponsors are not involved in order to create a fair society in which males and females are making comparable salaries. Rather, the primary objective of these entities is to make a profit and to win. When it all boils down to money like that, demand for the league is what drives the value of the television and sponsorship deals which is then therefore used to pay players. The history of gender roles in society (in just about every culture male sports came before female sports) shaped cultures into having significantly more interest in male professional sports leagues over females. With that being said I just do not see it being feasible for any time in the near future to have comparable salaries between those involved in male professional sports and their female equivalents.
ReplyDeleteA lot has been said already about the lack of profitability of women's club sides. Without broadcasting revenues or sponsorships, it is definitely a hard business to grow. I feel that one potential solution to this problem could stem from the strength of the men's club sides. If the business allocated a portion of the earnings from the men's clubs to help develop the women's side, female professional programs could see improvement. The question could be whether the clubs would take money away from their cash cows in order to see future development of their women's team.
ReplyDelete-Colin Zaccagnio