Ep. 31 | FIFA's $20 Billion Plan Collapses in 72 Hours, Lynx Win 10 Straight, WPBL Debuts

FIFA tried to sell a piece of the World Cup and world football said no. Gianni Infantino's $20 billion plan died in about three days, and the women's game was squarely in the blast radius.Episode 31 walks through the whole timeline: the FIFA Forward Enterprises pitch, UEFA's 55 member associations voting unanimously to boycott, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation following, and the resignations inside FIFA that made it look less like strategy and more like one person's project. We also get into what almost got canceled, including the U-20 Women's World Cup in Poland and 2027 Women's World Cup qualifying. Then it's WAFCON, a tightening NWSL playoff race, the WNBA trade deadline, and a Lynx-Fever game we watched from the Target Center stands.This week we dig into:- FIFA's $20 billion collapse: the FIFA Forward Enterprises proposal, UEFA's unanimous boycott vote, 143 of 211 member nations lined up against it, and the two women, UEFA vice president Laura McAllister and Norway's Lise Klaveness, who moved fastest- WAFCON in Morocco and the coverage problem: Malawi's Temwa and Tabitha Chawinga taking down record champions Nigeria, Barbra Banda's four-goal game in Zambia's 6-0 win over Egypt, and a tournament almost nobody in the U.S. can legally watch or even get live scores for- WNBA trade deadline and playoff math: Kelsey Plum from the Sparks to the Mercury, Aneesah Morrow to the Toronto Tempo, a five-game gap between the top eight and bottom seven, and why Minnesota has the toughest remaining strength of schedule- Lynx 108-100 over the Fever at Target Center: Kelsey Mitchell's 37 points, Olivia Miles' "welcome to the W" moment, Napheesa Collier at 4-0 since returning, and Cheryl Reeve handling the off-court noise the way you'd want a coach to- NWSL playoff race: seventh through tenth separated by a single point, Jess Fishlock scoring seconds into her return for the Reign, Sam Kerr on the board for Gotham, and Utah putting five past PortlandAlso in this one: the Women's Pro Baseball League's sold-out opening weekend, the Los Angeles Queens beating the New York Heights 10-8 and the San Francisco Firebells beating the Boston Hunters 11-3, the WNBA hitting 73 million unique viewers with a third of the season still to play, Netflix paying a reported $200 million for 2027 Women's World Cup rights, the NWSL terminating its Victory+ streaming deal, Athletes Unlimited pausing pro basketball and volleyball for 2027, Marina Mabrey's three-point contest raising $6,500 for the Black Women's Institute for Health, girls high school flag football drawing 1.12 million viewers, and Alex Eala becoming the first Filipina to win a WTA Tour title by beating Jessica Pegula at the DC Open.Follow Raising the Game for weekly women's sports coverage.Instagram/Threads/YouTube: @rtg_podWebsite: rtgpod.comSubstack: substack.com/@raisingthegamepodcastEmail: [email protected]