Over the holidays The Lead is featuring episodes from its first year about how sports changed in 2019 or signaled a major trend that’s shaking up a particular league or sport.

Women’s Soccer is here to stay. The North Carolina Courage defeated the Chicago Red Stars 4-0 in the final of the NWSL on October 27, 2019. This summer's World Cup generated a lot of talk about equal pay, and also led to a new broadcast deal and a major corporate sponsor for the NWSL. We chat with The Athletic's Megan Linehan about the future of the league, the team that's been pulling in 20,000 fans for home games, and what U.S. star Megan Rapinoe has been up to now that she’s no longer in a Twitter war with the president.

Read Megan's article about the future of the NWSL:

https://theathletic.com/1326052/2019/10/26/nwsl-state-of-the-league-amanda-duffy-heather-oreilly/?source=theleadpodcast

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