New Delhi, July 29 -- ZURICH - When FIFA president Gianni Infantino unveiled plans for a new commercial subsidiary he called FIFA Forward Enterprise, Europe's football establishment responded within hours. UEFA declared the proposal "crosses a line that football's governing institutions should never cross," announced an emergency meeting of its 55 member associations, and raised the possibility of a boycott of FIFA competitions. What had been a strategy presentation became, by the end of the day, a diplomatic crisis.

The substance of the proposal is significant. FIFA Forward Enterprise would become a standalone $20 billion commercial entity controlling the rights to the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup. FIFA would reta...