WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.<\/p>\n
Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative\u00a0collective bargaining agreement\u00a0this past spring that resulted in the league’s first set of million-dollar player salaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cCathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league\u2019s 30-year history,\u201d NBA commissioner Adam Silver said Friday when announcing Engelbert’s decision. \u201cWe are grateful for Cathy\u2019s leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women\u2019s basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engelbert, who turns 62 in November, told The Associated Press that she has been thinking about retiring for months.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first came to the league I intended to do this for 3 1\/2 years,\u201d she said in a phone interview. \u201cThe 7 1\/2 years exceeded that time. This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we’ve been on. Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engelbert insists that the decision to leave was solely her own and that she did not feel any pressure to step down from NBA or WNBA stakeholders.<\/p>\n
Engelbert: Several unidentified successors on league’s radar<\/p>\n
The commissioner said she has been working on a succession plan over the last few years. While she didn\u2019t give any specifics on who might be considered for the position, Engelbert did say there are both internal and external potential candidates on the league\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good time to hand it off to the next leader to take the \u2018W\u2019 into a better phase,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m proud of the team we built and everything we accomplished. A leader knows when it\u2019s time to drop the mic and move on after building a powerhouse team in the league office.\u201d<\/p>\n
Engelbert said she has mixed emotions about leaving.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love women’s basketball and am not going anywhere yet. We’ll run a real succession process in the remaining four months. If we don’t find someone I’ll stay on,” she said. “I had no transition. I walked in the door and I was by myself as no one transitioned me into this role.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I can help this next leader transition in especially considering the elevation of this league.\u201d<\/p>\n
The WNBA has grown at an exponential rate during Engelbert\u2019s tenure as commissioner, with record television ratings, strong attendance, a new long-term media rights deal and expansion to 18 teams by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was brought in as a business leader to transform the business,\u201d she said. \u201cI look at revenue and merchandise, viewership and attendance,\u201d she said, noting how they’ve all improved. \u201cA great leader senses when it\u2019s time for someone else to come in. When I came in, this league was facing questions about our long-term viability and sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turmoil and tension part of Engelbert’s tenure<\/p>\n
Engelbert said the growth of the league has \u201cblown away her expectations\u201d since she stepped into her role after leaving her previous position as president of Deloitte in 2019.<\/p>\n
Besides the new CBA, the list of things she is most proud of includes getting charter travel for players, keeping the league going during the coronavirus pandemic, the historic media rights deal and exponential increase in the value of of WNBA franchises. In 2019, the average value of a WNBA franchise was $10 million; in 2026, it is about $460 million.<\/p>\n
Along with the financial gains, however, turmoil and tension have accompanied the WNBA\u2019s growth.<\/p>\n
Players say they have seen more\u00a0social-media vitriol\u00a0directed toward them over the last few years and some don’t feel the league has done enough to ensure their safety. The league also has been at the centre of discussions about transgender athletes playing in the league.<\/p>\n
Engelbert has repeatedly said the online attacks of players are unacceptable and she backs league initiatives to protect players. She also said there should be no confusion on the transgender question.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have no current eligibility issues in the WNBA,” Engelbert said, adding that \u201cif we did, we would have a thoughtful policy discussion with the (players’ association) and the players.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there was a strained partnership between the commissioner and players during the recent CBA negotiations, Engelbert insists she has a good relationship with them.<\/p>\n
New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBA players’ union executive committee said Friday that she was happy for Engelbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat she\u2019s done for the league is incredible,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cObviously, the CBA negotiation was a tough one, but the way that both sides continue to have a huge win is really important. So really happy for her and hope that she continues to remember that and reflect on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stewart had said before the all-star game in July that there was a respect for Engelbert among the players but not much of a relationship.<\/p>\n
Engelbert sent a letter to all the players Friday morning in which she wrote that she had \u201cenormous pride in what we’ve accomplished together, profound gratitude for the opportunity to lead alongside of you, and complete confidence that the future of the WNBA is brighter than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
What’s next in Engelbert’s future?<\/p>\n
Engelbert said she is ready to do what most retirees plan: spend more time with family.<\/p>\n
She also admitted that the online hate she receives has affected her family as well, though she did not share details of the impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been some hard parts of that on my family with the vitriol and hate I get online,\u201d Engelbert said.<\/p>\n
Her retirement will make her mother happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom is turning 90 this year, and she said that \u2018it would be good if you were retired to spend more time with me,'” Engelbert said, laughing. \u201cI have two children, one I barely see.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m one of eight kids (and I) have five brothers. They always say can you retire so you can spend more time with us.”<\/p>\n
Come Jan. 1, her family will get its wish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":883408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-883407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=883407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/883408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=883407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=883407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=883407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}