Read your first paragraph again; As it applies to US Soccer, you are 100% wrong. Equal pay, for equal work. the women's team plays the exact same game (in some years, they have played more games than the men: this has been one of their complaints). Each game is 90 minutes. I think we can assume training leading up to the games is similar. Then you claim I want things shared, not based on merit. If it was merit based pay, the women could argue they should be paid more due to they have been far more successful than the men. In the case of US Soccer, merit is based on on-field success, not overall revenue
Where have I ever suggested that money should be taken from the NBA and given to women in the WNBA or a similar example? This isn't what their lawsuit is about. Maybe people on the site are confused. There are club teams (such as the MLS/NWSL) and then there is the national team. They aren't complaining that they get paid less with their club teams. One member of the team (maybe Rapinoe?) even came out and said if they are going to get higher salaries with their club teams, more people need to start coming out to generate revenue. It would be ridiculous is a league such as the NBA had to share revenue with the WNBA. These are separate organizations. They aren't suing over that.
It has to do with the national team (this is US Soccer, which is a non-profit organization which is in charge of both national teams), which is completely separate. I also looked a little further and in 2018 they generated about 100 million last year. About half comes from sponsorships, which they bundle. In other words, Nike doesn't sponsor just the men's team; if they are a sponsor they are sponsoring both teams. Impossible to determine who brings in more on that, although the Nike women's jersey was the best selling jersey last year. Another 25% comes from revenue from matches. In the last three years, the women have brought in more revenue than the men (not a huge amount). Couldn't find out where the remaining 25% comes from; I looked at numerous articles and couldn't find it. I would be willing to guess it is TV revenue; if that is the case, I would imagine the men's rights or more than the women's.
Bottom line, US Soccer is an organization that develops both the mens and women's team to play on the international stage. They are attempting to grow the game for both boys and girls. Why wouldn't you pay them the same. This is the national team and you want them to have success, which the women have had. They have won 4 World Cups