here to discuss the significance of this agreement,
eric Mitchell sports analyst and president and ceo of life flip media.
Eric glad to have you on this morning,
let's just break down what is included and what is not included in this deal.
This is a great thing for our sports, especially women's sports across the globe.
What team usa did with this collective bargaining agreement is
finally take the model that they've used and put on
bumper stickers and mugs one team, one nation and actually make it right.
In fact,
now the players will be paid equally across the board
and Team USa now our men's and women's soccer team
Are the only ones that will get paid when
FIFA the large World Cup that our women's team always
either wins or places in the top 5-4 all the time will be able to take home that money.
So what does that mean?
It's a great question that means it's putting in comparison in 2018
When France won the World Cup,
they won $48 million dollars that was split amongst their teeth.
When team USA the women's national soccer team won
Just the same year, they took home $4 million.
You see it now it makes that split equal.
So if our men's soccer team hopefully someday can get that far and win the World Cup,
we would have a big pot,
but that means our women's national team that place as well will have a much
bigger pot and the men's team will actually make some money from the women playing,
which is kind of the I mean, let's face it,
You can probably list more players from the women's national team,
the famous players that we've had since the 1990s
more than you can list one or two men's players.
I mean that's the question I've been asking people and trust me,
I get a lot more women's names that I do male soccer players names.
I think that's across the board in such a fair kind of statement to make,
which makes kind of this fight over the last couple of years,
even more frustrating for a lot of the players and even
the fans here that the women's team has gotten so much,
no more notoriety has been so much more historic in
some of their own endeavors literally on the field.
Yet they are getting a fraction of what the men's soccer team is getting here.
To that point.
I mean, obviously this is a monumental and historic moment yesterday.
Some of the players on the women's soccer team,
things like this is a moment that brings them extreme pride,
but it is hard to feel excited about something that should have
should have happened kind of all longer. Should have been the norm, so to speak here.
So I don't want to lose in context.
The reality that this fight has been going on for years.
Some even saying decades when you just think of more broadly
kind of, you know, equal pay for women.
Let's talk about why this took so long for it to happen.
That's a loaded question for me.
Uh just just look at the way that we treat women sports and college. Right?
Look how the weight room from last. You know, two years ago as March.
Madness between all of that.
This is an ongoing struggle that we're going to have to continue fighting.
You're still seeing it in the W. N. B. A. Which has a boy.
Big time blend over with the women's national soccer team.
There's a lot of just big names shared with those two teams coming together.
This fight will continue. I don't understand it at all.
I wish I could give a great explanation of this is why
it's just frustrating.
It's always been treated as oh women aren't equal in sports
and that's just absolutely not the way watch the W.
N. B. A. Game, Those games are pure watch Sue Bird play basketball. She's amazing.
Watch any of those amazing players that are out
there and now you're seeing that go even further.
I mean if you're gonna take it and make how frustrating. This is
a woman is the leading scorer in the N. C. Double A. History.
That's a flat fact he's outscored all men and all women.
So take that it's frustrating on the soccer level because our team,
our women's team is famous.
I mean they they strike the fear in all
of their teams that they're playing in the olympics
and World Cup.
It is interesting and here's a cool fact this morning, FIFA announced for World Cup,
this coming World Cup,
three on field, the head referees will be women.
So it's,
it's not just shaking the core here in America,
but globally they're making a change of putting more women out there on the field
for even against men.
So that'll be really cool to see female referees
being the head judge during World Cup coming up.
Yeah, that that showing continued progress here, but to your point,
I mean this is something that never made sense
right now. It still doesn't make sense yet.
Even with this victory and this kind of monumental moment, it still is an issue
far more broadly.
That again doesn't make sense,
but still exists and where it almost feels like you're fighting a ghost, so to speak,
in terms of
a ghost of the reason why this is still in effect.
But I think about this and I think about again, the broader picture here,
could this kickoff and should it kick off
kind of these further equal pay initiatives,
you know, to other organizations in the sports industry,
but even beyond the sports industry,
I come from a tech background.
So I absolutely agree with you,
I've always felt women should be paid their equal to what they
have in the Silicon Valley and now you're seeing it in sports.
I hope this awakens everyone.
I want to see it, not just in sports,
but I want to see it across corporations and businesses,
not just here in America but across the globe and
it is great to see team USa make this collective bargaining
agreement make it we are the only team that is
splitting the pool from FIFA for both male and female.
While Australia and Switzerland and Finland also pay
their female team equal pay as their team.
Team USA is leading the way so hopefully we can take this very positive charge.
Take away these old monsters that are out there.
This old weird old boys only club and make
this sport equal because women are amazing athletes.
They're fun to watch. I don't care what you're doing.
W NBA basketball is a fun thing to watch.
Same when it comes to our national soccer team.
So I just hope that we can continue to have this
journey and it just gets people to wake up and go,
okay, we're in 2022
this is what we're gonna do and businesses follow along
the same suit because we have some amazing female ceo?
S out there,
amazing influencers and we need to continue this message across the board
and by the way to your point about the W W N. B. A.
There has been some progress there there, right,
super leading initiatives for like marketing kind
of budgets being equal to kind of the
men's side and even broadcasting kind of opportunities
being equal to the men's side there.
Hopefully that progress
starts to trickle down so that we all see the greats, you know, in women, N. B A.
And and those other sports
that are also kind of just as equally exciting.
But again, more broadly here, when we look at equal pay, right,
82 cents on the dollar national average, in terms of what women make compared to men,
women who are equally qualified in their fields, their male counterparts
in terms of actionable steps here, what do you think needs to happen
for us on this broader picture sector by sector to actually get to this this this goal
that should have always been the case. But this goal of equal pay.
Again loaded question for me, uh, you know,
I want to I want to be the answer to be simple.
Just do it right? Let's let's just steal from Nike and just say just do it.
But it's gonna have to where we're going to break down some barriers as we all know.
For some reason we have you said it best we have these ghosts of the past that just,
we don't really have an explanation as to why
we treat women as unequal in the workplace.
We're just gonna have to push it and make people
uncomfortable to become comfortable with something that should be normal.
It shouldn't be some random question you and I shouldn't be in here going,
why are women being treated equal?
They should be. Why are they not?
I mean,
you're also talking to a married guy here who you know warships regard his wife,
walks on so I'm different.
But we need to make sure that everybody is treated equal.
And the answer should be simple.
Not this long drawn out answer of it just needs to happen.
Yeah, I appreciate you kind of playing along, so to speak
questions almost in different ways, but really to hit home that point
that it isn't complex that that no matter how you and ask this question,
the reality is
this is something
that should have always been the case yet. We are still fighting for it to be the case.
Even when we know
that that fair is fair.
It should, it should be,
the fight continues unfortunately despite
knowing that ERIC really appreciate your
time and your insight say hello to your wife for me,
by the way, erIC Mitchell sports analyst and president and Ceo of Life flip media.