WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert denounced people that she said are “trying to ‘sow divisiveness’ as the league grapples with a debate over transgender athletes.” Engelbert’s comments in a pregame gathering ahead of the Wings’ win over the Fever in Dallas “were her first since the league called out what it said were bad faith efforts to use the debate to ‘demean or marginalize others’” in a statement made last week. Engelbert, echoing NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s recent comment, said, “We’re being the center of political football for people who have never watched the WNBA, never have written about the WNBA or reported on the WNBA” (AP, 8/20).
Several politically conservative groups “rallied outside” the American Airlines Center Thursday supporting Fever G Sophie Cunningham, urging the league to “clarify eligibility rules for transgender athletes.” No organized counterprotest “was apparent” outside the venue. Organizers later “handed out signs supporting Cunningham and opposing transgender athletes competing in women’s sports to people heading toward the arena” (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/20).
A spectator “hurled a green sex toy” onto the court at Crypto.com Arena in L.A. during the third quarter of the Dream’s 124-88 victory over the Sparks. The incident sparked “flashbacks to last season’s spate of projectiles tossed on the court at WNBA games.” Dream F Angel Reese “quickly pointed out the perpetrator from her seat on the bench, and the spectator was apprehended by arena security” (THE ATHLETIC, 8/20).