The problem is when the women think they should be paid as much as the men.
I agree, but when you get down into the weeds, that gets tricky.
It is necessary to separate club salaries and income from service on the men's and women's national teams. Those are two different kitties.
The big asymmetry is that MLS soccer draws much larger crowds and, since it has more teams in more tv markets, it has a much richer tv contract. Club salaries are much higher than in the NWSL, which is growing but which is still far behind. So far, so good. At the club level, all the pay equity issues will disappear if the women draw bigger crowds. I try to be polite about it, but this is my go pound sand argument when the pay equity comes up at this level.
(And it does come up. About 15 years ago, several of the dads on my daughter's club team started taking the girls to women's professional games. Men's and women's soccer are different enough tactically that we thought our little munchkins should actually see the kind of soccer that they might grow up to play someday, in higher division club soccer, in college, and theoretically professionally in the unlikely event that any of our daughters turned out to be that dedicated to the game, and that good. They watched plenty of men's soccer as well, but it ain't the same. The girls were U-10 when we started, and they got to see real big girls' soccer. 15 years later, this is still a father-daughter thing for us. We are season ticket holders, and we are now fans, having bought into the team bad years as well as good. So whenever I encounter an ignorant doofus of the feminazi variety, my first question is, "Where are your seats?" If they're smart, they descalate quickly.)
Anyhow, since the men make so much more from the club salaries, the money they get from U.S. Soccer for national team games is chump change. I'm sure they're glad to have it, but for the men, playing on the national team is a matter of pride and prestige, not money. For the women, club salaries are still very low, and the national team salaries are much more important. And in the women's game, nobody is making really big bucks (aside from endorsements for a very few).
This led to very different contracts for the men's and women's national team players. Going back many years, that was the root of many disputes. The contracts have changed over the years, and the women gradually won enough concessions that the women's U.S. Soccer salary and benefit package was arguably better than the men's. Arguably ... but a union is involved, so all differences get highlighted for bargaining purposes and groupthink sets in. In addition, U.S. Soccer has a long history of absolutely tone deaf, boneheaded public statements that justifiably infuriated the women, who naturally tossed them into the court of public opinion where the press was totally one-sided. A lot of the antagonism could have been avoided given a modicum of intelligence on the part of U.S. Soccer leadership.
That's a long story and I don't want to rehash the history here. I'll just say that the leadership of U.S. Soccer has been as bad as the congressional Republicans, most of whom wouldn't know a winning issue if it bit them in the butt -- let alone how to frame a winning issue persuasively. When someone with a winning argument has a communications strategy of continuous brain farts, at some point they deserve what they get.
I didn't pay a lot of attention to the last round of contract talks. I gather that U.S. Soccer was finally trying to get the men and women on the same contract -- this is for the national teams, not league play -- which is long overdue. Going forward, the women need to grow their league in the right way. An early exit from the World Cup will hurt because the NWSL has always used national team players as a major draw. The league needs to evolve beyond that and build a real fan base for each club. For that to happen, more moms have to take their daughters to games. More young women need to suggest an NWSL game for date night -- yes, really, and I guarantee you that their boyfriends can learn to enjoy watching 20-something young women playing pretty good soccer if it pleases their girlfriends. More young women who grew up playing soccer need to start buying tickets themselves. Do that and the pay issues will disappear.
Grumpy old men on FR can grump all we want. The solution to the problem is in the hands of young women. If they won't support women's soccer, it's on them. That's why the ignorant doofuses of the feminazi variety need to deescalate quickly. I'll make it personal pretty fast. Walk the walk or shut up.