We are talking about the US Women's team and not the rest of the world. Using World Cup numbers do not apply under this conversation. If we were talking about the game globally you certainly have a case.
What? How does World Cup numbers not apply? The World Cup (men's World Cup) is the single biggest sporting event in the world and draws more viewers and more eyeballs, thus generating huge advertising revenues and tv broadcast rights fees, than any sport in the world. It's the single biggest income generator for the men's team. What you are saying, disregard men's World Cup revenue to determine what male and female players should be paid, is completely senseless. That's like saying let's calculate Bill Gates wealth without his Microsoft stock.
In a World Cup year, the men's team generates so much more revenue, there is no comparison with the women. Comparing revenue in 2015 is misleading and cherry picking because that's a women's World Cup year and the men are missing World Cup revenue. The fairest way to compare revenue is to average revenue for a four year period, so both men and women get their big income generators factored in.
I'm just really flabbergasted at the absurd and pervasive PC bullshit that even makes this a conversation. Except maybe figure skating or gymnastics, there is no women's sport that brings in the tv viewership or ticket sales anywhere close to the comparable men's sport. Men's soccer generates hundreds of billions, women's soccer generates maybe in the hundreds of millions, and that's a stretch Your pay is based in large part on the revenue you generate. The women generate a lot, lot, lot less revenue. Therefore, they should not be paid equal to men who generate way more revenue.
I'm pretty sure that the women are in fact grossly overpaid compared to the amount of revenue they generate. I was actually shocked to learn that women's team members got a salary paid regardless of whether they played or won a game in international competition, and the salary is not bad. It's pretty much a guarantee that the men's World Cup revenue is subsidizing every other team including the women's team and the youth teams.
And, I would hope that US Soccer would do the right thing. They can't keep expecting the US Women to maintain their competitive level without some financial benefits. Here are some numbers when you compare the US Men to the US Women.
"The gap between projected revenue — $23 million for the USWNT and $21 million for the USMNT — in 2016 stands at $2 million, but, as demonstrated by the revenue detail, the USWNT’s revenue is set to nearly double what the USMNT will haul in ($17 million to $9 million) in 2017."
Again you're cherry picking numbers by not including World Cup revenue, Gold Cup revenue. You should google this. There's plenty of analysis out there showing how much more revenue the men's team generates. My point is, why do you even need that analysis? It's just so obvious there's no money in women's team sports.