The unlikely U.S. Soccer president has overseen a landmark equal-pay agreement and come away victorious in a battle against the FIFA and CONCACAF presidents—and that's just in 2022
What a job done by Cindy!! Awesome article, secretly hoping for a logistical disaster for World Cup 2026 if FIFA insists on running it... Can’t wait for that Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati ‘26 Men’s World Cup Final. : (
Here's the thing: old powerful rich men don't take being "upstaged" or outmaneuvered by a woman very well, so expect all sorts of classic stupid power moves to undermine Partlow Cone and keep the old boys in total control. She's indeed a transformative and historic figure but the fight has just begun.
And this issue of taking over local control should be a lot more alarming than it sounds in the article. I can just imagine the shitshow the winning cities will have to deal with as Infantino punishes North America and further enriches all his (male) cronies. Gonna be an ugly 4 years.
Very good article. I’m not as excited about equal pay as everyone else seems to be. I’m happy for the USWNT players, but, being honest, I don’t watch womens’ soccer. As much as you don’t want to hear it, I consider women’s soccer of lesser quality. The women can’t do anything the men can’t do better and they face inferior competition. If you wish to pretend that the men aren’t able to do what the women can’t then be my guest, but I have very limited time for watching soccer and I must be selective. There is no women’s game that makes the cut. So you do you, and I get that this is a boost to the women’s game, but it seems like it would have to come at a cost to the USMNT. I’m not saying that it’s a zero sum situation (although financially it exactly is) but it seems like it will have effects if the men are paid less relative to their peers. It would certainly be a consideration to a dual national trying to decide which team to play for. I’m one of those guys who believe that the US doesn’t want you if you don’t want to play if your reason isn’t that you’re simply proud to be American, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference to me, except that I’m bothered that no one even has the courage to so much as raise the potential cons to equal pay. We’re better off after having a full and complete discussion of the pros and cons, and that’s not happening.
As I said last week in comments, I’m increasingly feeling like Infantino is just doing a bad job. Lecturing US owners that they should be making money? I mean, even I’ve heard of loss leaders, and I’ve heard that many European team owners are losing money year-over-year. And meanwhile, Parlow Cone is getting shit done, and Infantino is just not.
This is why I subscribe. Great journalism! Thank you. LFG Parley Cone!
What a job done by Cindy!! Awesome article, secretly hoping for a logistical disaster for World Cup 2026 if FIFA insists on running it... Can’t wait for that Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati ‘26 Men’s World Cup Final. : (
Do we know if US Soccer gets any say in where the USMNT would play their matches? Don’t like LA would be the first pick.
Here's the thing: old powerful rich men don't take being "upstaged" or outmaneuvered by a woman very well, so expect all sorts of classic stupid power moves to undermine Partlow Cone and keep the old boys in total control. She's indeed a transformative and historic figure but the fight has just begun.
And this issue of taking over local control should be a lot more alarming than it sounds in the article. I can just imagine the shitshow the winning cities will have to deal with as Infantino punishes North America and further enriches all his (male) cronies. Gonna be an ugly 4 years.
Grant - any idea WHY Cordeiro was preferred over Parlow Cone by Infantino?
Very good article. I’m not as excited about equal pay as everyone else seems to be. I’m happy for the USWNT players, but, being honest, I don’t watch womens’ soccer. As much as you don’t want to hear it, I consider women’s soccer of lesser quality. The women can’t do anything the men can’t do better and they face inferior competition. If you wish to pretend that the men aren’t able to do what the women can’t then be my guest, but I have very limited time for watching soccer and I must be selective. There is no women’s game that makes the cut. So you do you, and I get that this is a boost to the women’s game, but it seems like it would have to come at a cost to the USMNT. I’m not saying that it’s a zero sum situation (although financially it exactly is) but it seems like it will have effects if the men are paid less relative to their peers. It would certainly be a consideration to a dual national trying to decide which team to play for. I’m one of those guys who believe that the US doesn’t want you if you don’t want to play if your reason isn’t that you’re simply proud to be American, so it wouldn’t make much of a difference to me, except that I’m bothered that no one even has the courage to so much as raise the potential cons to equal pay. We’re better off after having a full and complete discussion of the pros and cons, and that’s not happening.
As I said last week in comments, I’m increasingly feeling like Infantino is just doing a bad job. Lecturing US owners that they should be making money? I mean, even I’ve heard of loss leaders, and I’ve heard that many European team owners are losing money year-over-year. And meanwhile, Parlow Cone is getting shit done, and Infantino is just not.