The United States Men's National Team might have beaten Iran last night but they weren't the only winners coming out of the 1-0 bout. The USMNT and USWNT will split at least $13 million after the men's team won yesterday as a result of a landmark deal that helped close the pay gap between the two teams.
The USWNT was also paid $2 million in prize money for its World Cup win in 2015 along with $4 million for winning it in 2019.
According to Just Women's Sports, this is what the financial breakdown would look like for the USWNT and USMNT.
That calculation does not account for U.S. Soccer’s cut of the winnings. For the 2022 men’s World Cup, the federation will take a 10% cut, and then ”90% of World Cup prize money will be pooled and shared equally between rostered World Cup players for the WNT and MNT,” per the new CBAs – which would give the USWNT and USMNT $5.85 million each.
The USWNT has grown in popularity while sustaining the amount of success only whispered when discussing the top teams on the pitch. It's one of the reasons the USMNT agreed to a new labor deal.
“I would say that’s when the reality hit,” Walker Zimmerman told The Athletic. “Like, ‘Yeah, this is what we need to do, this is what has to happen to grow the game beyond just the men’s team and the women’s team, but to grow it at the grassroots level.’
“I think that’s kind of what sold it at the end of the day, is that this is what’s right and that this is an opportunity to do what no other national team has done.”
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