LAS VEGAS (AP) — WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert typically highlights the league's successes over the past season at her annual state of the league address.
This year's speech might be a little different. Engelbert will speak Friday night ahead of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals for the first time since Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier’s blistering assessment that the league has “the worst leadership in the world" with a commissioner who lacks accountability.
The best-of-seven championship series between the Las Vegas Aces and Phoenix Mercury in many ways is being overshadowed by the off-court issues facing Engelbert and the league.
Engelbert is in the midst of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement that the players say aren't going well. There's a deadline of Oct. 31 to get the new CBA done unless both sides agree to an extension.
The commissioner also is dealing with the potential sale of the Connecticut Sun, who would need league approval to relocate anywhere.
There's also been the season long critique of WNBA officiating by players and coaches.
Not all is troubling around the WNBA. The season's attendance was its highest in league history. Ratings have been strong this year even with Caitlin Clark out with injury for the second half of the season and the playoffs.
For all the faults that Collier cited in her prepared comment on Tuesdays, Engelbert has delivered on many of her promises since coming into the league in 2019.
She will have added six expansion teams by 2030 and secured a major new media rights deal for the next decade that will bring in more than $2.2 billion. Engelbert also had the league pay for a full charter flight program this season that the players hope will be added to the new CBA to address concerns about issues ranging from safety to travel time.
The commissioner has said all along that the league is hoping for a transformational agreement that includes significantly increased player salaries and benefits.
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