World Cup Highlights Big Gender Gap in Prize Money
By Ken Reed
We are a couple days from the start of one of the biggest spectacles in sports, soccer’s World Cup, hosted by Qatar.
Soccer is truly a global sport and its fun to see so many countries competing in this sporting event.
The World Cup spotlight will shine on some of the world’s greatest athletes. However, the spotlight will also shine on some disturbing problems, including the host country’s shaky human rights record.
This year’s World Cup will also bring attention to the huge gap in prize money between the men’s World Cup and the women’s World Cup. The purse for the men’s tournament is more than 10 times that of the women’s tournament.
FIFA, the sport’s governing body, will hand out $440 million to the 32 qualifying men’s teams. The winner will receive $42 million. On the other hand, women’s World Cup teams will only take home $30 million, with the winner getting $4 million.
The prize money gap is depressing, especially since the United States’ women’s national team recently negotiated a CBA with US Soccer calling for equal pay for the men’s and women’s national teams. That agreement sent a powerful message to the rest of the world that gender equality in soccer is possible.
Unfortunately, the rest of the world in general, and FIFA in particular, have a long ways to go on the equality front.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

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Episode #29 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: The Honorable Tom McMillen Visits League of Fans’ Sports Forum – McMillen is a former All-American basketball player, Olympian, Rhodes Scholar and U.S. Congressman. We discuss the state of college athletics today.
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Episode #27 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Kids’ Sports: How We Can Take Back the Game and Restore Quality Family Time In the Process – Linda Flanagan is author of “Take Back the Game: How Money and Mania Are Ruining Kids’ Sports and Why It Matters.” We discuss how commercialized and professionalized youth sports are hurting kids and their families.
Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
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Media
"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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