EPA US lawmakers want equal pay for women from FIFA The letter follows a POLITICO report on the gender disparities in soccer.

NEW YORK — Weeks after the U.S. won the Women’s World Cup, the disparity in pay, publicity and investment between men’s and women’s soccer has prompted action from at least 13 members of Congress.

In a copy of a draft letter reviewed by POLITICO and addressed to embattled FIFA head Sepp Blatter, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D–Ca.), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D–Md.) and a growing list of at least 11 co-signers wrote that they are “deeply concerned by the stark, ongoing disparities” in the sport. The group urged FIFA to “comprehensively reassess its policies and commercial decisions and terminate any that perpetuate this inequality.”

After the American women’s team clinched a 5-2 win over Japan last month, POLITICO reported that the total payout for the Women’s World Cup this year would be $15 million, compared with the total for the men’s World Cup last year of $576 million, nearly 40 times as much. When the German men won the World Cup in Brazil last year, they won a $35 million prize, yet the paycheck for the American women will be $2 million.

“Inequities in pay are indefensible,” the letter said, citing the numbers, also making mention of FIFA using turf fields rather than grass ones as an example of unequal facilities.

Fox Sports reported that the U.S.-Japan World Cup game was the most watched soccer game in U.S. history — male or female — and garnered more viewers than the NBA Finals, the World Series or the Stanley Cup. The U.S. women’s team came home to the first-ever ticker tape parade for a women’s sports team in New York City’s history, according to the mayor’s office.

“FIFA and other corporate actors often cite the weak American and global market for women’s sports in order to justify these inequities,” the letter said. “This year the Women’s World Cup has proven that it’s time to shelve this false perception. There is ample evidence that FIFA has underinvested in women’s sports out of motives ranging from apathy to discrimination.”

The letter recommends that FIFA follow the lead of Wimbledon by offering equal prize money for women and men, allow women to play on grass fields, demand certification from participating teams to provide sufficient pay, health care, training facilities, equipment, and travel for players, as well as “reassess all of its television contracts and promotional arrangements to make sure they embody sound business principles and a devotion to expanding the global role of women’s soccer — rather than factually unjustifiable assumptions about a limited audience for women’s sports.”

The letter may fall on deaf ears, as FIFA executives are under investigation by the Department of Justice for racketeering conspiracy and corruption, the latest chapter in years of rumor and scandal that have plagued the multi-billion dollar organization. Earlier this month, former FIFA official Michael Hershman was among those who testified at a Senate Commerce Committee Hearing regarding the governance and integrity of international soccer. More cosigners to the Speier letter are expected, as well.

“Women’s sports are not a sideshow,” the letter said, “and FIFA should do its utmost to ensure it doesn’t treat them like one.”

FIFA did not immediately return a request for comment.

Mary Pilon, formerly of The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, is the author of “The Monopolists. She is a regular contributor to POLITICO.

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