Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has been a lightning rod for criticism in the WNBA for a while now. Napheesa Collier blasted Engelbert in her exit interview, and all hell broke loose. There were (and still are) calls for Engelbert to quit. According to the Sports Business Journal, Engelbert could move out after these negotiations. However, it was not always like this. Engelbert was considered revolutionary when she was hired in 2019. So why has WNBA’s rise, fueled by Caitlin Clark, coincided with Engelbert’s downfall? Annie Costabile of Front Office Sports has the blunt answer.
“I think when it comes to the arrival of Caitlin Clark, there was a lot of business there, but there weren’t enough business minds ready for that, or that prepared the league to be ready for that,” Costabile said in an interview with Rachel DeMita on the ‘Courtside Club’. The WNBA leadership is not without experience. Engelbert spent 33 years at Deloitte and served as their US CEO from 2015 to 2019.
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Bethany Donaphin, the Head of WNBA League Operations, is a former WNBA player who previously worked in Deloitte’s Strategy and Operations consulting group. Phil Cook, the WNBA Chief Marketing Officer, came to the WNBA after more than 20 years at Nike. But some of their moves post-Caitlin Clark signal what Costabile is saying.
The demand for the WNBA surged in 2024, but its platform wasn’t ready for it. There were many blackouts and technical issues. The national TV games were limited. The league took a lot of time to roll out the charter flights to improve player welfare. The teams had to improvise to accommodate the Caitlin Clark-driven demand, moving to bigger stadiums just for Fever games. In 2022, the WNBA sold a 16% stake in the league to a group of investors for $75 million, which four years later appears to have significantly undervalued the league.
Nov 12, 2025; Belleair, Florida, USA; Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) signs autographs for fans after the Annika Pro-Am golf tournament at Pelican Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images
To be fair, what Caitlin Clark did for the WNBA is unprecedented. In a span of two years, the league went from averaging just shy of 6500 fans to 9807 in 2024. The viewership and interest surged in millions as the WNBA was deemed the fastest-growing brand of 2024. Many feel that no single player has impacted a league so much since Michael Jordan. But that is not a valid excuse, as Clark was already making waves in Iowa.
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“I think that’s also why so many people got so sensitive about the discourse around Caitlin Clark when she came into the league, because again, to our point, we maybe didn’t see a future in the WNBA,” Costabile further said. “But there are women who gave everything to build the foundation of the league when no one else gave a s***.”
This is an important narrative point that has divided the whole league, which the league has failed to control. Many solely credit Caitlin Clark for the current rise, which has some element of truth, but it couldn’t have been possible without the generations preceding her. If the likes of Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier had just given up and played internationally for more money, the WNBA might not have existed today.
“There is such a detailed history to this league that the league failed Caitlin and that class by not being prepared for it.” Regardless, the time to pay up has now arrived. The CBA negotiations are at a grinding halt, but Caitlin Clark could be applying some subtle pressure to get the deal done.
Caitlin Clark Pushing To Avoid A 2026 Lockout
The WNBPA has basically said: Our way or the highway. “We’re prepared to do it to not play, but we don’t want to,” Breanna Stewart said. “We want to play because we know how important it is to be on the court.” The CBA negotiations have been stalled for a while now. The players are standing firm on their demands for a better revenue share and working conditions. On the other hand, Caitlin Clark might be pushing the WNBPA to get the deal done with her latest Instagram story.
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“I believe the way that she spoke the other day, and she posted this last night. ‘Time to get back to a lot of this. I don’t think that’s a coincidence,” Robin Lundberg said. “Yeah, I mean, yeah, she wants to play for the Fever. She wants to sign autographs and all that. But to say it in the midst of what is going on, when that as of right now is not happening, I think, maybe I’m reading into it too much, but that’s certainly how I took it.”
Clark has maintained that she wants to avoid a lockout. “We’re gonna fight for everything we deserve. But at the same time, we need to play basketball. That’s what our fans crave, and that’s what all of you crave, as well. You want the product on the floor,” She said at the Team USA camp. Yes, it seems she is completely backing the WNBPA in their stance to get the best deal, but her preference is to avoid a 2026 lockout.
