September 4, 2026 / 12:50 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end of the year, ending a seven-plus-year tenure that included a lucrative collective bargaining agreement that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries."Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league's 30-year history," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "We are grateful for Cathy's leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women's basketball."Engelbert is the second-longest-tenured WNBA president or commissioner. At the helm, the league saw transformative growth, including increases in viewership, digital engagement, game attendance, merchandise sales, corporate partnerships and franchise valuations, the league said."Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women's sports," Engelbert, who turns 62 in November, said in a statement.She told The Associated Press that she had been thinking about retiring for months."When I first came to the league, I intended to do this for 3 1/2 years," she said in a phone interview. "The 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."Engelbert, who stepped into the role after leaving her previous position as president of Deloitte, insists the decision to leave was solely her own and that she felt no pressure from NBA or WNBA stakeholders to step down.
