U.S. women’s soccer team deserves more

All the big ones have weighed in.

The New York Times, Forbes and Time, to name a few, have published articles about the disparity in the pay of the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams.

In case you’ve been in a time warp and missed it, the U.S. just won the Women’s World Cup and will receive $4 million.

In 2018, the men from France won the World Cup and earned $38 million.

That’s a lot of discrepancy. Almost 10 times more for the men.

Everyone also is pointing out that the men’s World Cup generates billions and the women’s $73 million.

That’s sort of like comparing NBA salaries to the WNBA. The maximum salary in the WNBA is a little north of $110,000, or about one-eighth of the NBA rookie minimum.

The WNBA is sponsored by the NBA, which like men’s soccer generates billions from TV, sponsorships and ticket sales.

Without a doubt, the disparity is too much. Same with the LPGA versus the PGA.

Twenty-eight members of the U.S. women’s team have sued the U.S. Soccer Federation, arguing in the lawsuit that U.S. Soccer “has a policy and practice of discriminating” against members of the women’s national team on the basis of gender, by paying them less than similarly situated members of the men’s team.

U.S. Soccer has no say on the payouts from the World Cup. That responsibility falls to FIFA. But U.S. Soccer does control how the payouts are divvied up.

The thing about soccer is it is still growing in popularity in the United States. It is almost exploding in Arkansas.

Futbol, though, may never catch football in the USA, although it is easily the No. 1 sport in the world. The three highest-paid professional athletes in the world are all male soccer players, according to Forbes.

Lionel Messi makes a total of $127 million a year. Cristiano Ronaldo is second at $109 million, and Neymar is third at $105 million.

In addition to sharing multimillionaire status and great athleticism, all three have been sued for nonpayment of taxes, and all paid fines.

The highest-paid American athlete is football player Russell Wilson, who checks in at No. 6 at $89.5 million.

A few years ago, during a commercial break on Overtime — a 103.7-FM, The Buzz radio show named for Matt Jones and his heroics in overtime games as quarterback for the University of Arkansas — Jones, a co-host, said that if he had it to do over, he might have played soccer instead of football (and basketball).

With his God-given speed, size and athleticism, Jones might have been one of the greats of soccer.

It is almost scary to think how good he would have been as a goalie. Jones was 6-7 with cat-like reflexes.

Sidebar: Jones retired from radio and lives off the investments he made while playing four years in the NFL.

Anyways, soccer — like most sports — is big business.

And the U.S. women’s soccer team wants a better share of the profits. In a world of overpaid and underworked perspiring artists, the women certainly deserve it. They are the world champions.

They are only the second team to win consecutive Women’s World Cups. Germany won it in 2003 and 2007, but the Women’s World Cup has been around only since 1991.

The men’s World Cup started in 1930.

Of the eight Women’s World Cups, the U.S. has won four. The Americans are elite in the world, and that gives them the right to expect to be compensated accordingly.

Until then, they should continue their triumphant parade through America. They earned it, and a ton of respect, for going undefeated in the 2019 Women’s World Cup.