Categorize it that way. If and when we reached out to talk to other National Associations, other federations, once again, we were one of 41 and one of 35 voting members and there really werent anybody else there wasnt anybody else that had the same maybe the same feeling that i did on a personal level or that we did as an organize. So we operated as best we could within the framework. Once again, were in concacaf by virtue of being a member of fifa and we felt we had to find a way to participate, work our way through and fortunate enough by a close vote, 1817, mr. Gillatty was elected in april of 13 and we think that was a step in the right direction, a step towards reform and that is the model that we felt was in the best interest of moving our sport forward in a very difficult and tricky environment sometimes. I have one final question and then ill wrap up here. Back on womens soccer here on a happier note, the most watched soccer match in u. S. History, as Many Television viewers as game seven of the 2014 world series. I was looking at the financial numbers here with the United StatesSoccer Federation and just looking at the investments in the Mens National team, and the woMens National team i have two sons and two daughters so you see where im heading with this. The spending on the mens facial team was up 50 , fiscal 14 over 13 yet the spending for womens soccer went down, i think 13 of fiscal 13 versus 14. Just in broad strokes, any reason why the mens soccer is up 50 and the womens down 13 . Let me first say that thank you for your comments about our woMens National team. Were quite proud of our track record with womens soccer. We are recognized as a world leader and i give you a few small facts. U. S. Soccers writing campaign is the reason that womens soccer was admitted into the olympics in 1996 and continues to this day. We are the top paid team in the world by far on the womens side. In 2003 when we hosted the womens world cup, the winnings there were no winnings for any team, first, second, third, fourth and the winnings this time was 2 million. We continued to push fifa in the right direction. Related to your direct question if that was 2014, i dont have the exact numbers in front of me, but it could be, and ill be more than happy to follow up and provide in writing, it could be because of the 2014 mens world cup is a peak year and would create more activity so i dont know it is what i was sensing looking at, but it might be worth a follow up of investments because i hope we continue to invest in womens soccer as you already have. But the mens program is growing significantly and the womens is coming down and we are so proud of the what the women did and want to continue to invest. And as a father of three daughters we are quite proud of soccer. With two failed professional womens leagues three years ago we took it upon ourselves as a federation and we run the womens league. Rather than fund 2530 women and cut the team down to 23, were providing a First Division womens Soccer League for 180 womens professional soccer players in this country and we think with the success that we had in canada ten days ago that well have additional ownership and investment as well. Mr. Flynn, were about out of time. Thank you for that reply. Senator klobuchar. Thank you. I wanted to follow up on some of senator danes questions and were proud of the u. S. Womens team. And are you aware that were putting together a resolution from the senate asking for equal compensation between men and women in fifa and the soccer . I am not aware of that. Well be ready for it. Okay. And i just think given the u. S. s emerging role in fifa and given what weve seen in the last few years with the corruption, i just think that while i appreciate that you say changes are being made. I dont think enough changes are being made. And i have some additional dollars from what senator daynes was talking about. The u. S. Womens team for the victory was compensated 2 million, is that right . That is correct. And the men the german team in 2014 was compensated 35 million. Is that right . I think it was 32 million. 32 million, okay. So it is 2 million versus 32 million and the losing team in 2014 which was the u. S. Men got 8 million. I believe it was 9 million. 9 million. So we have a situation where the losing team actually got more than four times the amount of money as the winning womens team. Correct. Let me point out, the winnings just as a point of reference, i think or background, the winnings payments go to the federations, so the payment to our players are guided and governed by separate collective bargaining agreements between the men and women. That is a point as a matter of background that is important. But just to go back to this. They say womens sports dont get as much attention but we have a situation here where the there is record attendance and tv ratings, fox broke tv records in the u. S. , making the World Cup Final the most watched soccer telecast ever in the u. S. , male or female. And yet you have this disparity of 32 million versus 2 million and i just my argument would be that certainly the u. S. Should take a lead in pushing from our quality here. In tennis they have equality. Wimbledon last year decided to have equality in prizes and wimbledon is old school and soccer is supposed to be noveau nd upscale and yet you have a disparity that i think is outrageous. We do agree. And well continue to push for greater payments for womens side in the future. I appreciate. Can you say why it was played on artificial turf when the mens was played on grass. Yes. In order for canada to receive the bid, senator, they went through a bid process. Canada was the only nation that submitted a bid to host. As part of the bid, from our point of view, unfortunately, it was the bid included playing on artificial surfaces. It is not something that we liked. We appealed to fifa and the Canadian Soccer Association to no avail. When our players came to us and wanted to participate in some legal activity, we fully supported that. And at the end of the day, we posed the question to our womens team, if this is what we are faced with, do we want to move forward and play, or do we not want to play and the women unanimously decided it is not perfect, we dont like what they felt and we agreed was a lack of respect, but we were moving forward and in many respects i think everybody would say were pretty happy we moved forward under not the best of circumstances but coming away with our third world cup, it was worth the investment. And the salary range, ill end with that, the salary range of women and men. Men, the minimum salary is 50,000 is that true . 50,000 for . For a male player in our collective bargaining agreement. And women 6,000 to 30,000. Im not sure what the reference is for that. This is professional soccer. Yeah, i cant speak to major league soccer, if that is what the Reference Point is. It is guided and governed by a collective bargaining agreement. The woMens National team players, that play in our league, is well above 6,000. And to play to play for their country as well as their clubs is well above 6,000. I would be more than happy to follow up and give you more details just going back to just the corruption and everything that has happened and my colleagues have done a good job and im sure there is more mr. Jennings would like to talk about going there you through that as a former prosecutor i find it abhorrent and im glad the cases are being pursued and in general, and the reason i bring up the womens issue is the u. S. Has had a shorter history on the International Soccer stage but has significant pull internationally, particularly with Major Corporate sponsorships of u. S. Companies. And so what im advocating here is using that pull for not just reforms, so that in transparency in the International Governance structure so we dont see this corruption and it gets taken care of and so that women can be treated as fair as men. If they can do it at wimbledon, they can do it in soccer. Nampg you, senator. Can i make one point . We are the strongest advocate for womens soccer in the world. And just as a point. There were 24 teams in this worlds cup in 2011 there were 16. We were strong advocates to expand. On the mens side, there is 32 teams that compete. So there is a greater number of games and a bit of a commercial impact but we continue to push fifa and concacaf to expand the opportunities for women and as a father with three daughters it is the top of mind every single day. You can imagine how the women feel when we hear that our women players that everyone was watching and so proud of got less than a fourth of what the losing team did last year for the men. It is just not right. I will it has been in the public a bit. But the women for playing in the world cup and competing this year will receive over 300,000. Just as a point of reference. But i would be more than happy to give you additional information. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you to all of you and senator layhe is leading the resolution so thank you. Senator klobuchar, thank you. Let me ask mr. Hershman, you heard the testimony of mr. Flynn who indicated that, as i would summarize his testimony, hes involved in the domestic side of the issues that were involved the u. S. Soccer federation. And i think his testimony would be would reflect that he and his colleagues, no one reported to him any concerns or knowledge of any corruption, bribery, racketeering. I couldnt i think his testimony would suggest that he had no unaware of the activity that led to the indictments. That suggests to me that and i dont know what mr. Flynn does, but hes the ceo. But what needs to change structurally that this behavior would be known by the u. S. Soccer federation. What is missing . Thank you, mr. Chairman, for that question. I think you have to understand the nature of the beast. Fifa is like no other organization that ive had an opportunity to consult with on issues related to governance and compliance. I want to correct a statement that mr. Bery said earlier. Fifa is not an international organization. It is not an ngo. It is not a corporation. It doesnt follow any guidelines or standards. What exemplifies fifa is a small clique of very powerful individuals whose selfdealing was kept very secret, at the top level of the organization. Its no surprise to me that an individual Federation Like the u. S. Soccer federation didnt know, didnt understand what was going on. This organization, as pointed out by the justice department, has systematic corruption. And for years now, for over ten years, in the midst of many scandals and even going back before ten years when mr. Jennings was aggressively reporting on lack of transparency and accountability, the organization answered to one man and one man alone and that man controlled this organization with an iron fist and an iron grip. And that was the president of the organization, seth blatter. When he wanted someone to know something, he would let them know. Otherwise, they would be in the dark. And it is discouraging to me that president blatter sits in that same seat today. Let there be no mistake, he has not resigned. He has said he will step aside when a new election is called. Well hes said twice in the past, in recent history, that he would not run for office again and changed his mind. Im very concerned that hell do the same thing again. That six months from now he will say the Reform Initiative is now complete, ive succeeded, and the federations from africa, the federations from asia, want me to continue so ive decided to stay as president. That would be the worst thing that could happen for fifa. Therefore, mr. Hershman, in your opinion, your testimony is that the best thing that could happen to clean up fifa is for the departure of mr. Blatter . Not only mr. Blatter. There are dinosaurs in the executive committee that dont believe in reform. Let me say this. Were going to see next week at the executive Committee MeetingFifa Executive Committee adopt new reforms. Reforms that we recommended years ago to be adopted and that were put aside. It is not what is on paper. It is not going to be the compliance program. It is not going to be the change in governance structure, it is the culture of the organization that has to change. And you cant have a change in culture unless you have people within leadership that believe in ethics and values. Let me ask you this then, what is the motivation for that change to occur . What needs to happen through the u. S. Soccer federation, others around the globe, today what were doing here, have any consequence on these issues because what i assume, that the opponent to change is financial. There is apparently significant amounts of money that surround fifa and those involved in this what you describe culture. So how is it what steps need to be taken to overcome that culture today, tomorrow and into the future . We need to be build a coalition. Number one, the sponsors have got to take and not only the sponsors, but the Media Outlets that bid on media rights. They have got to take a stand. When an individual athlete, be it tiger woods or ray rice, does something wrong, the first thing that happens is the sponsor walks away from that relationship. Fifa has been the subject of scandal after scandal, after scandal and no sponsors have taken the lead in withdrawing support for fifa based on the scandals. So the sponsorships the sponsors and the Media Outlets have got to stand up and say if you dont reform, if you dont do the right thing, were going to walk away. The federations like the u. S. Soccer federation have got to come together. Those with similar cultures, similar beliefs in transparency and accountability and i believe that is the belief of the u. S. Soccer federation, have got to come together from the bottom up and force change at the top. And finally governments many governments provide subsistence to sports federation, not necessarily in the United States, but overseas they spend millions of dollars in taxes money supporting the domestic and International Sports organizations and they have got to intervene and let them know that the time is right for change. Even here in the United States, while we dont spend taxpayer money on supporting our domestic sports organizations, the nfl, we provide them with tax exempt status. Im sorry, with exception from antitrust laws, which is worth a great deal of money to them. And so governments have already got to influence sports organizations to undertake transparent and accountable governance. Let me ask you, mr. Jennings, do you what needs to transpire . Hershman. What needs to transpire today and tomorrow that would give you hope that the corruption that you have described would be resolved internally and within fifa and perhaps youre answer based upon your testimony is fifa has no future, it has to be replaced . Is that different than what mr. Hershman is saying . Very mildly from michael. Yeah, fifa has got to be dissolved. They dont want reform. And we use words like reform. And they think it is fine if you went on for years, mr. Gotti went on for years as his family got picked off but the operation went on. And i have to come back to concacaf, theyre going to have a reform meeting. Theyve had one. Thats the third one, i think. I think when mr. Blazer and mr. Warner were out, thank goodness, they had reforms. They had reform meetings. They pledged transparency and brought in two men, jeffrey webb from cayman and mr. Sands from traffic, from the corrupt Sports Marketing company and a few years later the fbi are going can you step this way please, sir. So now theyre doing it again. And who is this . Horace borel, the man who put his girlfriend in to vote at the Fifa Congress in 1998. And ive got the document if you want to see it. They are so corrupt. But the usf the United States federation has been cowardly, a kid from st. Kitts had the guts to stand up and say jack warner is stealing tens of millions of Fifa Development money that should be developing the sport in the caribbean. He had the guts to say it. Warner and blazer put their poison upon him. He just survived. But he had the courage to do it. Where was america . Let me ask, mr. Flynn, in your testimony, i just made notes so this wont be identical to what you said, but your testimony was that you could encounter potential political impact yet you indicated you opposed that the u. S. Soccer federation opposed mr. Blatter. Im sorry, i didnt hear. You indicated that you opposed and voted for someone other than mr. Blatter to chair. Be the president. Correct. And your testimony had something along these lines and that could have caused potential political impact and our chances to host the world cup. That suggests to me that there is an awareness that the decision about where a world cup soccer match is going to be played is that you would admit is not necessarily based upon the merits. If you are worried about a vote for the chairman of fifa having a consequence on site selection, that suggests to me that you are aware that something is not above the board or am i am i overstating that . Sorry. I think it reflects a management style. And that is what i was trying to impart. Mr. Blatter wields as others have said, a lot of influence in the organization. And in taking our position to not only vote openly and nominate prince ali and work hard for his election, we know that may come with some difficulties down the road in terms of seeking support for hosting the 2026 world cup as part of mr. Blatters management style. Thank you. Senator blumenthal. Thanks, mr. Chairman. Mr. Jennings, would you agree, based on your experience, that american corporate sponsors like nike, mcdonalds, visa and cocacola have been, in some sense, enablers . Inadequate. They have had terrible attacks of blindness, havent they, when the rest of the world has been categorizing and listing corruption at fifa and concacaf and documented. The sponsors said we only support the world cup and not fifa. Isnt that tough and brave of them. May