The Purse

Women’s football: closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention

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Women’s football: closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention

The gender pay gap is still significant in most tournaments.

Jana Hlistova

Aug 20, 2023

Welcome to our #198 weekly newsletter.

“For women taking control of their financial future”

-Jana Hlistova

From The Purse

In this week’s newsletter, we focus on women’s football, closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention.

Good luck to the Lionesses (England women’s national football team) playing in the Women’s World Cup final today!

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And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.

I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.

Until next week,

Jana

Women’s football: closing the World Cup gender pay gap and why investors are finally paying attention

The gender pay gap is still significant in most tournaments.

Despite the prize pool increasing from $30m to $110m since the last Women’s World Cup in 2019, the gender pay gap is still significant in the most recent tournaments.

In fact, recent reports have suggested the Lionesses (England women’s national football team) are currently unhappy with their performance-related bonuses at the World Cup. This is as they play in the Women’s World Cup final today in Sydney.

The gender pay gap is not uncommon to see in what has been an underinvested market. Women’s football has struggled after being overlooked for decades by the sports male dominated authorities. Without significant investment and media attention, you can not grow a new market, and women can not get paid what they deserve.

Sounds familiar? Yeah, we’re tired of it too.

But here’s the good news:

The route for national associations to plug the gap is being paved by the United States. Thanks to a 'historic' pay deal finalised last year, the U.S. Soccer Federation has pledged to pool all prize money won by the men's and women's team for competitions they both compete in, and share it out equally.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that the Women's World Cup has ‘changed sport in Australia forever’ as he detailed a $200m boost for women's sport and an overhaul of broadcast rules.
Barclays has made a £30m commitment to the women’s game from 2022-25.
And according to Nicole Saharsky, a lawyer who helped the US women’s football team secure equal pay, the Lionesses ‘have ‘significant power’ to bargain with the FA and Fifa over their own salaries and bonuses’.

Ms Saharsky has gone on to say:

“I think that for many years, there was a perception by the Federation’s and from Fifa that the women’s sport was just not going to make as much money as the men’s sport or get the global attention of the men’s sport.
What has happened in the last few years has shown that that’s just not true.
The Euros got incredible viewership, got incredible ticket sales – the Lionesses have been selling out Wembley Stadium. When you sell out Wembley Stadium, you just have a lot more bargaining power in terms of being able to meet with the Federation and get equal pay and get good working conditions and everything else…
…People are interested in women’s sports, that women’s sports sell jerseys, they sell tickets, they sell broadcasting rights…
They make money and when the public is there wanting to get involved and watch the teams, it just is going to mean more and more success in terms of the women getting equal pay and better benefits.”

And so women’s football has been capturing the attention of investors..
…but unlike the men’s leagues, women’s are increasingly being funded through venture capital and special purpose vehicles, as reported by the Financial Times.

In 2022, the WNBA raised $75mn at a more than $1bn valuation, while the Los Angeles-based football team Angel City FC was valued at $100mn after its series A funding round.

What do investors look for?

‘Being digital-first’ from the beginning, ‘with a growth strategy focused around social media, online advertising and fan networks’.
‘Teams and leagues that are stable, where we know there is consumer demand and (where) we are at the beginning of a real media revenue cycle”.

Kara Nortman, a managing partner at global sports venture fund Monarch Collective and a founder of Angel City FC summarises it well by saying:

“Women’s sports is culture, and investors are starting to notice that potential..”

What next?

(Re) read the article on The Monarch Collective raising $100m to invest in global women’s sports.

Financial news

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Russia’s central bank raises its key interest rate to 12% from 8.5% at an emergency meeting called after the Ruble crashed.
30 year US Treasury yield rises to 4.42%, highest since 2011.
UK facing ‘high’ risk of recession despite inflation dropping to 6.8%. UK inflation has dropped to its lowest since February 2022, following cut in energy price cap, but IPPR warns economy could fall into recession
Retail sales in Great Britain fell by 1.2% last month, more than expected, as people bought fewer summer clothes during the wet weather but also less food.
News that Chinese property giant Evergrande filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in a Manhattan court prompted institutional investors and big holders to dump riskier assets.

Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs

Bitcoin plunged briefly <$26k on news that Elon Musk's SpaceX has sold all its holdings of the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin ends the week at $25,935, posting a seven-day drop of 11.9%.
Ethereum (ETH) fared similarly, with an intraweek drop of 10.2% to $1,662.
Altcoins generally tumbled harder, with most other leading cryptocurrencies posting losses of between 10% and 20%, including BNB, XRP, Dogecoin (DOGE), Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), Polygon (MATIC), and Avalanche (AVAX).
Losses of over 20% were felt by holders of Uniswap (UNI), Litecoin (LTC), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which dropped over 23%.
Yuga Labs slams OpenSea's shift to optional royalties. Yuga Labs intends to sever ties with OpenSea over the NFT platform's shift to a royalty-optional model.
Coinbase International volumes pick up, topping $280m in one day.