I was elected president during a global pandemic. It was a perfect storm. There was no soccer being played in this country at the grassroots level. Even our national teams had to go through World Cup qualification and tournaments. We were forced, because of the health policies in this country, to actually play our home games for World Cup qualification in the U.S., in Chicago and Florida. We had no fans. We had no opportunity to make revenue on those games.
The one thing I want to clarify that I was explicit on from day one of my presidency was that I would not move forward with any new agreement unless it had pay equity baked in, and I communicated that to the leaders of the women's national team, the four women you saw. In addition to their legal counsel, I had a Zoom call with them and through the general secretary I said to them that I was going to support pay equity.
Several months later, in June, as you've pointed out, I met with the men's players prior to the scheduled Panama match. I communicated with them also that I was 100% only going to support a deal that had pay equity baked in. The decision for them to boycott that match was theirs. I don't know what the reasons were, but I've maintained that position. We continued our negotiations throughout the summer. We continued our negotiations through the fall and winter—