Dems Introduce Bill To Block Men’s World Cup Funding Until Women Paid Equally
Bill to block federal funding for the 2026 men’s World Cup
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House Democrats have introduced a bill to block federal funding for the 2026 men’s World Cup until U.S. Women’s National Team are paid equally.
Democratic Reps. Doris Matsui of California and Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut proposed the bill on Tuesday to give “fair and equitable wages compared to the US men’s team."
The bill comes as the Democratic Party scrambles to embrace the U.S. women’s soccer team, on and off the field.
Following Megan Rapinoe's protests against President Donald Trump and her refusal to visit “the f—ing White House," the sport is becoming highly politicized as it follows the footsteps of Colin Kaepernick, who pushed Nike into canceling a Fourth of July-themed patriotic sneaker for Independence Day.
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The House bill comes just weeks after Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced similar legislation in the Senate.
Both bills are threatening to hold the World Cup hostage in support of the women’s equal pay.
But it is still unclear how much federal funding the World Cup will need.
But it seems the Democrats view this as an opportunity by creating it into an economic argument into a political one.
According to Western Journal: For most countries, World Cup hosting duties tend to be expensive, with quite a few of those dollars going toward stadium construction and renovation.
Russia put forth $14 billion to host in 2018, and its responsibilities included building seven new stadiums and renovating five others.
The United States, however, already boasts over 120 stadiums that meet FIFA’s World Cup size requirements.
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Back in March, the USWNT filed a lawsuit against the Soccer Federation, citing unrealistic hypothetical claims to demonstrate perceived gender discrimination.
It is worth noting that the women negotiated and signed a collective bargaining agreement separate from the men’s team.
As a result, their pay is structured entirely differently.
These differences perfectly demonstrate how the free market works. Male players only earn bonuses, which is risky, but it means their best-case scenario vastly outweighs that of their female counterparts.
The women earn a steady base salary with benefits, which prioritizes security over a lucrative payday.
Market forces don’t only exist in the collective bargaining agreement, however.
They also determine the revenue that each squad brings in.
In their lawsuit, the female players noted that they generated more money for the federation from 2016 to 2018, conveniently ignoring the fact that they played 14 more home games during that span.
Since the women are not primarily paid on a game-by-game basis, this discrepancy in games played is not reflected in their paychecks.
They signed a deal to ensure that.
When the number of games played is closer and multiple World Cup cycles (every four years) are included, the revenue for the men’s team almost triples that of the women’s. It’s purely market forces at play.
That hasn’t stopped these on the left from claiming sexism and embracing the U.S. women’s team as beacons of social justice.
Reps. Matsui and DeLauro are only furthering their cause to entangle the federal government into an economic issue.
The big loser is capitalism.
