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NEW YORK — Cathy Engelbert does not want to talk about her future as WNBA commissioner.
Speaking to reporters before the WNBA draft in New York on Monday night, Engelbert aggressively deflected a question about how much longer she wants to be commissioner.
“I do crack up how everybody’s focused on me, and you should be focused on the hundreds of amazing women, and thousands of women who run this league outside of myself,” Engelbert said.
Engelbert recently led the league through collective bargaining agreement negotiations, which last month produced a new deal that raises the salary cap from $1.5 million per team in 2025 to $7 million this season. The league is also entering its new media rights deals, an 11-year, $2.2 billion agreement that will bring in at least $200 million annually. And the league is welcoming this season its second and third expansion teams amid a run of six expansion teams between 2025 and 2030.
The 61-year-old former Deloitte CEO just finished a deals gauntlet, in other words. But she said there’s “nothing else to report” and “no story here” about her tenure, other than to note she’s “really looking forward to the next few years.”
“I wonder whether you would ask that of a man, by the way, but I realize as women we get asked different questions than men do,” Engelbert said.
Other major sports leagues are largely public about their commissioners’ contracts, or the details have otherwise been reported. The NFL’s Roger Goodell is signed through March 2027. MLB’s Rob Manfred said he will step down when his contract ends in January 2029. Adam Silver’s NBA contract reportedly runs through the end of the decade. (Engelbert reports to Silver.) The NWSL’s Jessica Berman extended her contract last year through 2028. MLS is exploring options to replace Don Garber after his contract ends in 2027, and the NHL is similarly preparing for Gary Bettman to depart in the next “couple years.”
Plotting International Growth
Engelbert said the league will look to expand internationally with preseason and eventually regular season games, and said she expects the league will hopefully have its first game outside of North America next year.
“Expanding our global footprint is a major priority,” Engelbert said.
The league began playing preseason games in Canada before eventually awarding Toronto an expansion team.
The NBA has made international games a big priority, moving regular season fixtures to Europe and Mexico City, plus holding preseason games in the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, and South America. The league is also looking into starting a 12-team league in Europe as early as next year.
