London, Ont.’s Shelina Zadorsky, sports events expert weigh in on Team Canada’s temporary deal for pay equity

Canada pose for a team photo ahead of Group B soccer action against Nigeria at the FIFA Women's World Cup in Melbourne, Australia, Friday, July 21, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Scott Barbour

Canada's women's soccer team is getting ready for their next FIFA World Cup match against Australia on Monday.

On Friday, the team reached a temporary deal to get paid the same amount as the men's soccer team, releasing a statement that said they felt forced to choose between receiving a fair share of rewards from the teams’ successes and their commitment to equal pay.

Erin Pearson, a sports and events marketing professor at Fanshawe College and PhD candidate at the Western University School of Kinesiology, said this deal sheds light on how much work still needs to be done for pay equity.

“It sounds like Canada soccer was applying pressure by extending the time for negotiations for the World Cup,” Pearson told CTV News London. “And unfortunately for the players with this just being an interim deal, it sounded like they were making them choose between equitable compensation and having funding for important resources like their training camps.”

Pearson added that men’s sports has been funded, invested in, or received endless resources over the last 100 or so years.

The 2023 Women’s FIFA World Cup is record breaking for ticket sales, nearing 1.6 million tickets sold as of a couple of days ago, and record viewership.

Pearson said that’s the best way for Canadians to support women in sports and help the players get the same pay as the men’s team.

“Comparably, women’s sports is probably only reaching the same mark now, over men’s sports 30 years ago, so if women’s sports had that same amount investment and resources from the get go, 100 years ago, it would be a very different story,” she explained.

When London’s Shelina Zadorsky, Team Canada’s centre-back, was asked about the interim deal at a training camp in Melbourne early Sunday morning, she told reporters she’s not focused on it and right now her focus is on the game.

Zadorsky added that she trusts the team’s negotiators made the best decision possible.