NEW YORK — WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert informed the league Friday that she will retire at the end of this year, ending a run of more than seven years as the first person to hold the title. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced the decision.
“Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league’s 30-year history,” Silver said in the release. “We are grateful for Cathy’s leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women’s basketball.”
The release credited Engelbert with record highs in digital engagement, game attendance, League Pass subscribers, merchandise sales, corporate partnership revenues, and franchise valuations, along with exponential viewership growth. Engelbert directed the expansion from 12 to 18 teams by 2030. The release called the media rights and collective bargaining agreements she helped negotiate the most transformative in league history.
“After more than seven years at the WNBA and more than 40 total years in business, I have made the decision to retire as WNBA Commissioner,” Engelbert said in the release. “In 2019, I had the privilege of being appointed the league’s first commissioner and to lead a league with enormous potential yet untapped awareness and significant undervaluation. Over the years, it has been amazing to watch WNBA players thrive and lead the massive cultural surge around women’s sports.”
Engelbert took office July 17, 2019. She spent 33 years at Deloitte and became its first woman CEO in 2015. She succeeded Lisa Borders, who resigned as league president in October 2018, and interim Mark Tatum.
The 2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement
The WNBA and the Women’s National Basketball Players Association reached a verbal agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement March 18, months after the previous deal expired and past two extensions of the original Oct. 31 deadline. The Board of Governors ratified the terms March 24. The deal covers seven years, from the 2026 season through 2032, and ties the salary system to league revenue for the first time. Twenty-three players signed contracts worth at least $1 million in the first two days of free agency, Engelbert said at the draft in April.
“We haven’t had those discussions yet with the WNBA board,” Silver said March 25 at the NBA Board of Governors meeting, when he was asked whether Engelbert would remain in the job past the 2026 season. “I would only say Cathy has done a fantastic job since she’s come to the WNBA.”
Engelbert was asked about her own timeline three weeks later, at the draft on April 13 at The Shed at Hudson Yards in New York. “I wonder whether you would ask that of a man?” she said, per CBS Sports.
ESPN’s Alexa Philippou reported in July that multiple high-ranking team sources believed the 2026 season would be Engelbert’s last, drawing on conversations with more than 20 owners, executives, players, and other industry figures who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “It’s easy to lead in good times,” Engelbert told ESPN for that story, pointing to a lesson she took from retired four-star admiral Bill McRaven. Speaking with reporters that same month, Engelbert noted she turns 62 this year and that 62 was the mandatory retirement age at her previous employer.
The Dallas Wings Under Cathy Engelbert
The Dallas Wings won the draft lottery in consecutive years under Engelbert and spent the first overall pick on Paige Bueckers in 2025 and Azzi Fudd in 2026. Both came out of UConn.
Engelbert named Bueckers and Fudd among the younger players arriving in the league when she met with reporters in July. “Everybody sees the W is here to stay,” she said.
The Wings clinched a playoff berth Aug. 25 with a 96-78 win over the Portland Fire. It is their first postseason berth since 2023. The franchise has reached the playoffs six times since moving to North Texas in 2016. Dallas went into the break 24-16 and fourth in the Western Conference. Bueckers averages 20.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 38 games. Fudd has averaged 13.1 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists over 30 games and is shooting 39.7% from 3-point range.
In April 2024, the Dallas City Council approved a 15-year, $19 million use agreement for the Wings to play at a renovated Dallas Memorial Auditorium starting in 2026, pending WNBA Board approval. The city told the team in May 2025 that the auditorium would not be ready until 2027. The council voted 13-2 on March 25 to let the Wings take over as developer of their 70,000-square-foot performance center in West Oak Cliff, which the team expects to open in April 2027.
On Aug. 3, the Wings announced they will play all of their 2027 home games at American Airlines Center. The announcement covers the 2027 season only. Memorial Auditorium remains the long-term plan under the 2024 agreement, and Greg Bibb told NBC 5 that the team hopes to be in that building for 2028 and the 15 years that follow. Dallas revealed the move in a video featuring Bueckers, Wings coach José Fernández, and Dallas rapper BigXThaPlug. American Airlines Center seats 20,000 for basketball. College Park Center, where the Wings have played their last 11 seasons, seats about 7,000. Season ticket member renewals opened Aug. 10 and new memberships went on sale Aug. 20.
“Today’s announcement marks a pivotal step in the team’s relocation to Dallas as well as our continued growth as a professional sports enterprise,” Bibb said in the team’s release.
The league is on break through Sept. 16 for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, which runs Sept. 4 through Sept. 13 in Berlin. Bueckers is on the United States roster. Dallas’s season resumes on Sept. 17 at home against the Las Vegas Aces and concludes the regular season on Sept. 23 facing the Seattle Storm. The playoff start date is set for Sept. 27. Engelbert’s retirement will be effective at the end of the year.
