Cathy Engelbert is retiring as the commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association at the end of 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.
Engelbert’s tenure is the second-longest for any WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league’s first set of million-dollar player salaries.
That growth has been accompanied by a series of headline-grabbing distractions for the league under her leadership, especially in the past year. She had a strained relationship with the players during the contract negotiations, and the 2026 season has been dominated by controversies surrounding officiating and the transgender debate, along with a large amount of social media backlash against WNBA participants.
Engelbert told The Associated Press the decision to leave was solely her own and that she did not feel any pressure to step down from stakeholders for the WNBA or the NBA — the latter has a large ownership percentage of the former — before Friday’s announcement. She also insist she has a good relationship with players.
While talks between the commissioner and players have been complicated, New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBA players’ union executive committee, said Friday that she is happy for Engelbert.