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Cathy Engelbert is resigning from her position as WNBA commissioner
New leadership is on its way to the WNBA, as Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced she’ll be retiring after the season. Engelbert’s resignation will officially take effect on December 31.
Cathy Engelbert, who was appointed as the WNBA’s first-ever commissioner in 2019, released a statement through the WNBA’s official Instagram acknowledging her seven-plus years leading the league and framing the departure as a retirement on her own terms.
Given the tumultuous season that the WNBA has experienced, however, it’s unlikely that Engelbert’s narrative is the one that the sports media world believes. Former ESPN writer and The Ringer founder Bill Simmons predicted that the WNBA would have a new commissioner earlier in the summer, for example.
“Cathy Engelbert is ‘retiring,’ aka being fired. So the WNBA will have a new commissioner. Hopefully the new commissioner can tell us what a woman is,” tweeted WNBA-obsessed Outkick founder Clay Travis.
"Decided." https://t.co/7XfCDvGn5h
— Brett Siegel (@BrettSiegelNBA) September 4, 2026
Cathy Engelbert has announced her retirement as WNBA Commissioner effective December 31 following a historically turbulent 2026 season
“After more than seven years at the WNBA and more than 40 total years in business, I have made the decision to retire as WNBA Commissioner. In 2019, I had the privilege of being appointed the league’s first commissioner and to lead a league with enormous potential yet untapped awareness and significant undervaluation. Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women’s sports,” Engelbert said in a statement.
“I retire knowing we have built something bigger, stronger and more enduring than we could have imagined. I am grateful to the WNBA and NBA team owners and staff, players, investors, fans and the powerhouse league office staff, who believed in what this league could become. I retire with immense gratitude and tremendous optimism for the future of the WNBA, with the best yet to come.”
The 2026 WNBA season has arguably been the most chaotic in the league’s 30-year history, as notable incidents include (but are not limited to): Alyssa Thomas throat punch on Caitlin Clark, congressional letters demanding accountability, a USA Today column invoking Emmett Till, the Sophie Cunningham transgender athlete controversy, DiJonai Carrington’s “WHITE PRIVILEGE” post, WNBA security telling fans to cover their XX-XY shirts, Bill Simmons publicly calling for her firing, and Stephen A. Smith warning the league that “a lot of people don’t like you.”
The discourse around the WNBA has reached a fever pitch in recent weeks as former NBA players such as Enes Kanter and Royce White (although White never appeared in an NBA game) have been grifting to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft.
She’s out after this season! Cathy Engelbert will be a former WNBA Commissioner.
— Linda Cohn (@lindacohn) September 4, 2026
“The WNBA needs its David Stern. Someone willing to be unpopular for the sake of the league. Under Engelbert, the league had chance after chance to take off, and she blew it at every turn,” one sports fan summarized on social media.
While the WNBA did grow significantly during Engelbert’s tenure — viewership records were broken, a new broadcast deal was secured, and Caitlin Clark’s elevated the league to another plane of popularity — the league has received more attention for its place in the culture wars than as a burgeoning sports league with multiple star players to build around, such as Clark, Angel Reese, Paige Bueckers, Olivia Miles, and many more.