The guessing games started almost as soon as FIFA executives told their counterparts from CBS, Fox, and NBC that the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cup rights were going to a non-traditional partner, which seemed like a nom de guerre for a streamer. Naturally, the clannish sports media business immediately played a game of elimination. It was apparent that ESPN, Amazon, and Google wouldn’t end up with the rights, not least because they did not bid on them. Apple seemed like a possibility, but an unlikely one: The company allegedly irritated FIFA by pulling out of a deal to carry the Club World Cup toward the end of the summer. It wouldn’t have made sense that the two would have consummated a Women’s World Cup deal just four months later.