Eighty-three percent of sports "now pay men and women the same amount in prize money, research has revealed," according to Alistair Tweedale of the London TELEGRAPH. A study conducted by the BBC into 68 different sports shows that the pay gap "has narrowed vastly in recent years, with rewards in women's sports on the rise." However, football retained a "huge disparity" between prize money for men and women, "particularly in the difference between the Premier League and the Women's Super League." Of the 68 governing bodies contacted, 55 responded to researchers and of those, 44 sports pay prize money. Two of those sports (synchronized swimming and nordic combined) "see men and women compete alongside each other," and of the remaining 42, 35 "pay prize money in equal measures" -- making up 83%. The last time this study was carried out, in '14, 70% of sports "boasted equality in terms of prize money." As recently as '73, "not one sport rewarded men and women equally." The team that finishes top of the Women's Super League is "currently given no winnings whatsoever," while Chelsea received £38M ($48.4M) for winning last season's Premier League title. Real Madrid was given £13.5M ($17.2M) for winning the Champions League, while Women's Champions League winner Olympique Lyonnais gained "just" £219,920 ($280,000). The women's World Cup winners receive £2M ($2.55M), while the men win £35M ($44.6M). Golf and cricket also had a "significant gap" between the genders, with the male winner of the U.S. Open pocketing £1.8M ($2.3M) -- or twice as much as his female counterpart (TELEGRAPH, 6/19).
