"I am a member of a team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice for it, because the team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion." - Mia Hamm (For who do know who she is, she is a ex-US soccer captain)
Mia Hamm only proves my point: female athletes don't face the pressures or incentives that males face. When she was playing women's professional soccer in the U.S. the league even existing was considered a success. Her salary peaked at $93,000. Peak salary for the WNBA in 2013 was $107,000. As of 2014 being on an NFL practice squad for a season pays a minimum of $102,000. Being signed to the team pays a minimum over $400k, the max salary for 2014 is $22,000,000.
In 2009 the average salary for Women's Professional Soccer players was $32,000. We can idealize female athletes all day, but they simply don't have the same incentives as men to be selfish so it's not a telling comparison.
Think about this, the University of Michigan is willing to pay the football coach ten times what they pay their own president[0].
I don't think your incentives argument is actually valid. In order for a player to be, say, drafted by an NFL team, he has to be able to work with the team. Teams routinely blacklist players from the draft that have poor sportsmanship or teamwork skills.
Furthermore, when I started coaching guys, we had a terrible football team. 1-7. There was no school pride, barely anyone attended the games. To the school, the team was a joke. The only players we had on the field were the guys that loved the sport would tough out a losing season. And we still had the same issues with teamwork/ego/individualism as with winning seasons.
Individual success for a member of an NFL team is the difference between $22,000,000 and $405,000. Per year. That's a massive incentive to act as an individual.
It great that you enjoy what you do, but a better comparison would be kickball teams, because everybody's there for the same reasons.
You've created a false dichotomy between "individual success" and "being a team player." Part of being an exceptional individual football player is being a good team player, which will be reflected in salaries.
Your argument has gotten incredibly tangential at this point and it's clear that you just want to pick a fight about the mens vs womens sports. (Backhanded comment comparing women's football to "kickball" not appreciated.)
Then you've almost completely misunderstood me. My whole argument is that men's vs. women's football is a bad area for teamwork comparisons because of the wildly differing cultures, costs, risks and rewards involved. And what's a team sport that both men and women play in the same way where everybody has about the same amount to gain/lose? Kickball.
It's not a backhanded comment nor an insult, it's not tangential because it's my central argument. But I suppose we'll agree have to agree to disagree.
