Gab Marcotti

The FA is considering seeding the Women's FA Cup, presumably in an effort to make sure that the four biggest teams all reach the semifinals.

Not surprisingly, many hate this idea.

I'll play devil's advocate here.

There's been by a caveat.

I don't believe for a minute what I'm about to say, but this would be their argument.

Say like, first of all, dear Jules, seating happens in football tournaments all the time.

The Champions League is seated, for example.

Secondly, the FA Cup is already seated because the top teams don't come in until the later rounds, right?

Oh, well, it's not true that everybody can play everybody.

Thirdly, Jules, um,

We don't necessarily need to take instructions because the men's FA Cup has been going one way since it was founded in 1882 or whatever it was.

Doesn't mean the women have to follow the same rules.

And fourthly, there's an economic imperative here.

Arsenal, City, Chelsea...

Manchester United, outdraw everybody else and much of everybody else.

It's in the interest in growing the women's game, which is my job at the FA Cup, to have these teams play each other in competitive semifinals on television for a natural audience rather than face each other in the third round or whatever it is early on.

It's fantastic.

Just something a little weird about it.

So the sponsor... So we already have one weirdo sponsor, which is Michelle Kang's company, Kineska, who... Well, first of all, they don't actually sell any product.

They're not consumer-facing.