WNBA Will Tackle Officiating Woes With New Replay Center

CHICAGO — The WNBA is making another major attempt to solve its longstanding officiating issues.

At a press conference Saturday ahead of the All-Star Game, commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the league will launch a centralized replay center starting in 2027.

“This is one of the most significant investments we’ve ever made in our basketball operations,” Engelbert said. “These investments of tens of millions of dollars will help bring greater consistency, efficiency, and transparency to our initiating process while continuing to improve the quality of the game.”

Shortly after, the WNBA announced in a press release that the league will use the same replay center facility as the NBA, in Secaucus, New Jersey. The NBA has had a centralized replay center since the 2014–15 season.

Engelbert said the league is still “finalizing operational details” as technology must be installed in all WNBA arenas—including ones where the league only plays a few games every season. It’s common practice for several teams to move a handful of games to arenas with a larger capacity than their home venues. 

Officiating has been a major issue in the WNBA for nearly as long as the league has existed, but it’s been amplified in recent years as the league’s popularity has grown. In last year’s WNBA semifinals, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said it was “fucking malpractice” that the league determined the officiating crew fit for Game 3 of their series against the Phoenix Mercury.

In response to the complaints, Engelbert created an officiating taskforce this past offseason that included Reeve and Toronto Tempo coach Sandy Brondello. That taskforce has led to an uptick in fouls this season.

“We needed to tidy up our game,” Brondello told Front Office Sports in May. “It got way too physical last year.”

In late June, the officials failed to call a foul on a play where Alyssa Thomas struck Caitlin Clark in the throat. The WNBA retroactively handed Thomas a Flagrant 2 and one-game suspension for what it deemed a “non-basketball act.”

Thomas called out Engelbert days after the incident after she said she received death threats. WNBPA secretary Elizabeth Williams told reporters earlier this week that the players expressed to Engelbert that they felt the backlash against Thomas could’ve been avoided if a foul was called in the moment.

WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike said the new replay center will be “helpful.” 

“It’s good that we’re implementing more resources to better our game,” Ogwumike said. “I know that refereeing and calls and officiating has always been a topic of discussion, and any resources that can make their jobs easier and ultimately the relationship between the player and the league and the refs, I’m all for.” 

Case Closed

Engelbert also addressed the investigation into alleged salary cap circumvention by the Las Vegas Aces, saying that “no discipline will be recommended or imposed” on the franchise.

“We’ve been conducting an independent investigation by outside counsel. So we have wrapped that up for now. The WNBA has determined that there is insufficient evidence at this time to establish a salary cap circumvention violation,” Engelbert said.

She said that they will continue to investigate “if new or additional evidence comes to light.”

The league began its investigation in 2024 after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority struck a partnership with each of the team’s players to pay them $100,000 per year for two seasons. The deals came before the new CBA kicked in, where $100,000 was more than the league minimum and about 40% of the maximum salary.