The answer is no we don't want our daughters working in an industry that doesn't pay a living wage ... which is why women's professional soccer will never be a viable as a business in its current form and why we should encourage our daughters and our sons to focus on their college degrees as their first, second and third choices. Articles like this
Forbes Article, understand the problem but the author's are either too blind to the reason or frightened of backlash to call it out.
The reality is that watching sports and attending games is "entertainment." These athletes (men and women) are not providing anything of value to society, except for entertainment. They are on the same level as comedians, singers, jugglers, magicians, actors and yes ... even strippers. Athletes are entertainers and the product they provide is entertainment. The consumer has limited entertainment time and dollars and consumes based on the quality of the product.
To this end, the product of professional women's soccer is substandard compared to professional men's soccer because its much slower and the athletes as a whole demonstrate less skill. There are far fewer people willing to spend their entertainment dollars and time watching players that are less skilled and much slower, which is why the USL2 v. the MLS v. the Premiere league have wildly different values and salaries. When the average Flight 1/Gold/Premiere Boys U16 team can easily destroy every NWSL team there shouldn't be any doubt as to why the NWSL will never succeed as an entertainment vehicle. (
Note, it was the practice of the USWNT to play DA U14 Boys teams to train, which often handily beat the USWNT and prior to the DA, the USWNT played BU14 ODP squads and often lost by large margins)
Note, my comments are solely limited to the NWSL, WNBA, WNHL, and the other women's professional sports leagues. Once we introduce the "national" team concept, consumers ignore the quality of the product and consume the entertainment on grounds related to "patriotism" and "national pride." For this reason, millions will watch Olympic Curling but not curling in general.