Despite record-breaking viewer numbers and crowd attendances, the Matildas are solely set to obtain prize cash of $6.7 million in the event that they win the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
That determine is barely 10 per cent of the quantity awarded to Argentina, the winners of final yr’s FIFA Men’s World Cup.
And in an excellent larger monetary blow, the prize cash on supply for the profitable girls’s staff is shockingly $13 million lower than what the Australian males’s staff earned in prize cash, regardless of being knocked out of the competitors within the spherical of 16.
Argentina obtained $65 million in prize cash for his or her 2022 win whereas the Socceroos scored a $20 million payday.
The whole $170 million in prize cash stumped up by FIFA for this yr’s Women’s World Cup falls nicely wanting the $680 million FIFA splashed for the Men’s World Cup.
But the Matildas are higher off than feminine soccer gamers in lots of different nations, due to a collective bargaining settlement struck with Football Australia in 2019 which has equalised pay and situations in lots of areas between the Matildas and the Socceroos.
Despite a clause within the settlement giving the Matildas the appropriate to the identical proportion of their prize cash because the Socceroos, the Matildas will obtain far much less, despite the fact that they’ve superior deeper into the competitors, because of the disparity between the prize cash swimming pools on supply.
It’s an issue the Matildas are nicely conscious of; earlier than the event they launched a video on social media to attract consideration to the massive gaps in pay between the boys’s and ladies’s video games.
Prize cash for the world cup is decided by sponsorships, broadcast rights, attendance and merchandise gross sales. Those who argue towards equal prize cash say girls don’t generate as a lot income as males in these areas.
But Saturday’s heart-pounding quarterfinal towards France had a median viewers of 4.17 million, with the full total viewers peaking at 7.2 million throughout the penalty shootout, making it probably the most watched occasion in Australia since Cathy Freeman received Olympic Gold in 2000.
It’s a document that’s prone to be smashed in Wednesday night time’s semi-final towards England.
It makes the $10.4 million Optus Sport paid for the ladies’s event (it then on-sold some video games to the Seven Network) appear like nice worth, in comparison with the $20 million paid by SBS for the published rights to the Men’s World Cup in Qatar, the ultimate of which attracted a median viewers of simply 976,000 viewers.
Attendance has additionally been past expectations throughout this world cup with a document crowd of 75,784 followers watching the Matildas beat Ireland of their opening match. The opening match of the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar was attended by 67,000 followers.
“Attendance records have been set in Australia with an average of over 30,000 for each match, and new broadcast records being set,” James Johnson, CEO of Football Australia stated.
When it involves merchandise gross sales, Nike has beforehand confirmed the Matildas bought extra official jerseys on July 19, the day earlier than the Women’s World Cup event began, than the Socceroos bought earlier than, throughout and because the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar.
According to the FIFA web site: “At the end of the Group Stage, records have been broken in areas as diverse as ticket sales, broadcast figures and digital media data.”
FIFA has beforehand stated it’s aiming for pay parity between the boys’s and ladies’s tournaments by the point of the subsequent world cups in 2026 and 2027 respectively, though there is no such thing as a written settlement it should achieve this.
It’s hoped figures like these will drive these liable for negotiating sponsorships, ticket costs and broadcast rights to position a better worth on the ladies’s sport.
Originally printed as Matildas epic efficiency not equalled by epic prize cash
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
