Cathy Engelbert announced that she will step down as WNBA commissioner at the end of the calendar year as the league remains mired in controversy over transgender participation in women’s sports.
Engelbert told the Associated Press in an interview that she was not pressured to step down by the NBA or WNBA stakeholders, saying the decision was her own.
“When I first came to the league, I intended to do this for 3½ years,” she said. “The 7½ 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.”
“It’s a good time to hand it off to the next leader to take the ‘W’ into a better phase,” she added. “I’m proud of the team we built and everything we accomplished. A leader knows when it’s time to drop the mic and move on after building a powerhouse team in the league office.”
Engelbert also doubled down on the league’s handling of the transgender debate that has plagued the season, maintaining that there are “no current eligibility issues in the WNBA.”
The controversy intensified after former NBA players Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White declared themselves women and eligible for the 2027 WNBA Draft in an effort to challenge the league’s definition of a woman. The league’s collective bargaining agreement states that only women can play in the league, but it does not explicitly define the term or explain how the league determines eligibility.
In August, the WNBA held a meeting involving team presidents and general managers to discuss how to define a woman. The league could not reach an agreement, The Daily Wire previously reported.
“Today’s meeting covered a wide range of topics, including ongoing discussions on transgender athletes and the continued hate and vitriol directed at players online. We will continue to engage all league stakeholders in the coming weeks and months,” a WNBA spokesman said in a statement obtained by The Daily Wire. “We will approach these important conversations thoughtfully and in alignment with the values of our league. There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”
Engelbert says she retires knowing the best is yet to come for the league. “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.”
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