The next leader of the WNBA will “have to have very thick skin,” according to outgoing commissioner Cathy Engelbert, speaking Saturday in what is expected to be her final press conference before her retirement at the end of the year.
Engelbert reflected on her seven-year tenure ahead of the first game of the 2026 WNBA Finals between the Golden State Valkyries and Atlanta Dream, each of whom are chasing their franchise’s first championship. In her remarks, the WNBA commissioner sounded alternately satisfied and sensitive, conveying her pride for the undeniable growth of the league over her term while also occasionally striking a defensive tone.
“Legacies are for the history books to write, I’m not writing it,” Engelbert said when asked what she hoped hers would be at the league. When she joined the W in 2019, the league was “virtually insolvent,” but Engelbert has since presided over dramatic expansion from 12 to 18 teams, negotiated media rights currently worth more than $2 billion, and negotiated a historic collective bargaining agreement with players this spring that minted the W’s first millionaire athletes.
“When I accepted this role in 2019, after more than three decades at Deloitte, I thought it would be a brief final chapter in a long career in business. Instead, it became seven-and-a-half of the most meaningful, demanding and rewarding years of my life,” she said. “There was always another challenge to confront, another opportunity to pursue, and another reason to believe even more deeply in what this league could become.”
WNBA valuations continue to break records, with the Valkyries topping Sportico’s rankings in 2026 at $850 million. Engelbert said she was especially proud the league office had grown from 12 to nearly 100 employees, adding a chief marketing officer and chief growth officer and creating the modern digital footprint for the W which now reaches fans around the world. Indeed, many sports industry executives have told Sportico that a job in the WNBA is among the most coveted in sports.
Engelbert said the search for her successor is ongoing, and that she herself submitted the names of some candidates to the W’s search firm, Excel, though she did not specify who.
“The good news is there’s people who really want to take on this role, which I think is great,” she said. “It’s a multi-dimensional role. You have to have very thick skin. I’d say that’s one characteristic you have to have, and you have to have confidence that we can continue this growth trajectory.”
In addition to her achievements in growing the WNBA, Engelbert has also been criticized by players for her management style and failure, at times, to mitigate controversy.
Asked if she had any regrets about how her relationships with players have unfolded over her tenure, Engelbert said, “I think the reason when I came in [that] our first pillar was ‘Player First’ is that the players didn’t trust the league. We didn’t have charter [flights], they had not great living arrangements, travel arrangements.”
Though those conditions were substantially improved through the 2020 and 2026 collective bargaining agreements, Engelbert said, “I know the media likes to write about bad relationships, and I know there are some players—the one thing you learn when you get in these big jobs. Like, I ran a firm of 100,000 people. Not everybody’s going to like you or agree with your strategy, perhaps.”