WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is facing criticism over comments she allegedly made to player Napheesa Collier during contract negotiations.
Engelbert denied telling Collier that Caitlin Clark should be grateful for the WNBA platform but did not clarify other reported remarks.
Tensions are high as the current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire, raising concerns about a potential labor stoppage.
Cathy Engelbert can tap dance until the WNBA Finals are over. The damage is irreparable.
The WNBA commissioner’s non-denial denials and plea for sympathy were not the assurance the players needed that Engelbert can be an honest broker in these tense contract negotiations. What little trust the players still had after that fruitless bargaining session at the All-Star Game was ethered earlier this week when Napheesa Collier shared how little Engelbert really thinks of them, and Engelbert would not — could not — counter that in her news conference ahead of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night.
It was telling that Engelbert’s best defense when asked whether she’d said the players should be, “on their knees, thanking their lucky stars” for a new, $2 billion media rights deal was to claim “inaccuracy” about what she’d said. Yet Engelbert wouldn’t say what those inaccuracies were or where they occurred, instead deflecting to how tough the criticism has been on her and her family.
“I’m a human, too,” Engelbert said. “I have a family. I have two kids who are devastated by these comments.”
You know what’s really devastating? Knowing the commissioner who is supposed to be championing the league and its players doesn’t respect them and thinks they should take less than they deserve.
Engelbert did deny — strongly — telling Collier that Caitlin Clark should be grateful for the platform the WNBA gives her because it’s the reason she has her long, lucrative list of endorsements.
“Obviously,” Engelbert said, “I did not make those comments.”
And if Collier has a recording of their conversation? Or someone to corroborate what Collier said Engelbert told her? Those reports about Engelbert stepping down after the CBA is done actually will be inaccurate because she won’t last the day.
Napheesa Collier knew what she was doing when she blasted WNBA leadership
It’s worth remembering, by the way, that Collier’s grandfather helped win independence for Sierra Leone and then served as its first representative to the United Nations. Playing chess when everyone else thinks they’re playing checkers is in Collier’s DNA.
“These women are smart. They’ve done the numbers, they’ve run the numbers — I know this because I was previously on the executive committee — and everyone is playing their role to get to a point where they avoid a lockout, they keep this product on the floor,” ESPN analyst Chiney Ogwumike said after Engelbert’s news conference.
“But in order to do that, you have to have conversations and it now feels like it’s been wasted time. And that’s on Cathy, unfortunately.”
The negotiations over this next collective bargaining agreement were always going to be tense. Interest in women’s sports, the WNBA in particular, has exploded over the last five years, and money is pouring into the league.
That new media rights deal that begins next season will pump $200 million a year into the WNBA. Sponsors are clamoring for a piece of the league, and owners in Detroit, Philadelphia and Cleveland just shelled out $250 million each for expansion franchises.
Players want a significant bump in both their salaries and revenue sharing. Salaries currently top out at $250,000 while revenue sharing is around 10%, a pittance compared with the roughly 50% that’s typical of major men’s leagues.
Engelbert claims she’s heard the players and says she, too, wants them to get a much bigger piece of the pie. But her actions, and her words, say differently.
The 40 players who showed up for the bargaining session at the All-Star Game was a show of their commitment, yet players left the meeting frustrated. Engelbert and the rest of the league’s negotiating team offered little new and showed little interest in trying to bridge the gap with the players.
“It was pretty shocking to see,” New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, who like Collier is a union vice president, said then. “Not many things did we both agree on. I think there were two bullet points where we were like, `OK, we can move forward with this.’”
And now, with the CBA expiring on Oct. 31, Engelbert has injected even more toxicity into the conversation.
It’s already too little, too late from Cathy Engelbert
Engelbert said she plans to sit down with Collier next week, which is a week too late. The minute Collier finished her exit interview Tuesday, Engelbert should have been on a Zoom call with Collier, union president Nneka Ogwumike and as many of the VPs as were available. Better yet, she should have gotten on a plane.
Engelbert said she wanted to get past the beginning of the WNBA Finals, but that’s just further proof of her tone-deafness. Players are furious, and you don’t recognize that’s a five-alarm fire? Every other player who was asked about Collier’s comments, including Clark and four-time MVP A’ja Wilson, stood behind her, and Engelbert doesn’t realize that’s a damning indictment of her leadership?
The players don’t trust her. They don’t believe Engelbert has their best interests at heart. They think she’s more worried about covering her ass than protecting theirs. They think satisfying her NBA overlords is a bigger priority for Engelbert than getting a fair deal. That’s the makings of a labor stoppage, not an agreement.
“I feel confident that we can repair any loss of trust,” Engelbert said. “… I think together we need to move forward.”
Engelbert has made that untenable, however. The biggest impediment to negotiations right now is her.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.