Cathy Engelbert will leave the WNBA at the end of 2026 after seven years that brought historic business growth alongside an increasingly strained relationship with the league’s players.
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has announced that she will retire at the end of 2026, closing a tenure that began when she became the league’s first commissioner in 2019. The retirement announcement comes after a period in which the league reached new commercial heights while Engelbert faced sustained criticism from players over leadership, communication and how their concerns were handled.
Engelbert’s seven years coincided with extraordinary growth across the WNBA. The league expanded its footprint, secured major media-rights agreements, introduced full-time charter travel and negotiated collective bargaining agreements that ultimately produced the first million-dollar player salaries, while plans are in place to grow from 12 teams when she arrived to 18 by 2030.
The success did not erase friction with the athletes at the center of that growth. Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier delivered one of the sharpest public rebukes in September 2025, calling the league’s leadership the “worst leadership in the world” while criticizing officiating, compensation and what she described as a dismissive approach to player concerns; Engelbert later denied specific remarks Collier attributed to her and said, “we have to do better and I have to do better.”
That disconnect remained a theme even after the league and players completed their latest labor agreement. New York Liberty forward and union vice president Breanna Stewart said ahead of the 2026 All-Star Game that players had respect for Engelbert but not much of a relationship with her, underscoring the gap between the commissioner’s business record and her standing with some of the WNBA’s most prominent voices.
In announcing her decision, Engelbert said she was retiring after more than seven years with the league and more than 40 years in business. She also acknowledged the players’ willingness to challenge league leadership, writing that those conversations were not always easy but were essential, while NBA Commissioner Adam Silver credited her with presiding over the most significant period of growth in the WNBA’s 30-year history.
The next commissioner will inherit a league operating from a far stronger commercial position but facing major leadership tests. Continued expansion, player safety, officiating, labor relations and maintaining trust with players will all remain central as the WNBA moves into its next era, making Engelbert’s successor responsible for protecting the momentum she helped build while repairing relationships that became one of the defining tensions of her tenure.
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