The history books will be kinder to Cathy Engelbert than this last year was as WNBA commissioner.
Six expansion teams. An international market. A landmark media rights deal. Exploding TV viewership and arena attendance numbers. Team valuations topping out at $1 billion and averaging $460 million.
Then there's the league's first $1 million player salaries and a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) based on revenue-sharing, marking the second "transformational" CBA she oversaw. They bookend a mind-boggling ascension for women's sports collectively in Engelbert's seven years running a league that turned 30 this year, and is the longest-running women's league in the United States.
Pull back 10,000 feet, and those are the highlights of a theoretical Encyclopedia Britannica entry, not the turmoil that ultimately led to Engelbert's decision to retire at the end of the year, announced on Friday. She is the league's second-longest-tenured leader, and told the ****** ociated Press she had initially intended to do the job for three and a half years. She sped past that short window, and told the AP she had been mulling the decision for months.
"This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we've been on," Engelbert told the outlet, adding it was her decision and she did not feel pressure from NBA or WNBA stakeholders. "Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done."
#year
Six expansion teams. An international market. A landmark media rights deal. Exploding TV viewership and arena attendance numbers. Team valuations topping out at $1 billion and averaging $460 million.
Then there's the league's first $1 million player salaries and a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) based on revenue-sharing, marking the second "transformational" CBA she oversaw. They bookend a mind-boggling ascension for women's sports collectively in Engelbert's seven years running a league that turned 30 this year, and is the longest-running women's league in the United States.
Pull back 10,000 feet, and those are the highlights of a theoretical Encyclopedia Britannica entry, not the turmoil that ultimately led to Engelbert's decision to retire at the end of the year, announced on Friday. She is the league's second-longest-tenured leader, and told the ****** ociated Press she had initially intended to do the job for three and a half years. She sped past that short window, and told the AP she had been mulling the decision for months.
"This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we've been on," Engelbert told the outlet, adding it was her decision and she did not feel pressure from NBA or WNBA stakeholders. "Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done."
#year
2 months ago
