IN JULY, Cathy Engelbert walked onto the court at Phoenix's Footprint Center, beaming before the crowd of 18,000 that watched the WNBA All-Star Game. The WNBA commissioner was not-so-secretly thrilled that Team WNBA which bore her league's name-notched a 117-109 upset over Olympic-bound Team USA, also made up of WNBA players. "This is going to get great reviews," says Engelbert, 59.
The All-Star Game was just one in a string of resounding successes for the league in 2024. Fan numbers have been swelling. ESPN viewership climbed 170% to 1.2 million per game; teams sold 400,000 tickets in one month; and 21 games garnered more than 1 million viewers each-18 of which featured the Indiana Fever and their No. 1 draft pick, Caitlin Clark.
These stats seemed unattainable five years ago, when Engelbert arrived. She left a job overseeing $20 billion in revenue and 100,000 employees as U.S. CEO of consulting firm Deloitte, and inherited a staff of 12 and, months later, a pandemic-induced existential crisis at a league with little financial cushion to save it from missing a season.
Former Iowa star Clark, with her record-setting passing skills and logo threes, and Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese pulled off a feat no one in the WNBA had cracked over 27 seasons: They brought fans of women's college basketball with them to the pro league, thanks to a combination of star power and a world finally ready to respect the women's game. The arrival of generational talent has stoked a period of hyper-growth for the league. It has also unleashed a cacophony of opinions that clang around the sports world. For Engelbert, it's raised the stakes on what was already a balancing act between serving players, owners, fans, and the WNBA's main behind-the-scenes stakeholder: the NBA.
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