A commissioner’s job? Make owners money.
Cathy Englebert is leaving her position as the Commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association at the end of the year. Englebert only lasted seven years in the position which is a remarkably short term in comparison to her peers. The National Hockey League’s Gary Bettman has been Commissioner since 1993. Don Garber, who is retiring as Major League Soccer Commissioner, has been on the job since 1999. Roger Goodell has been the Commissioner of the National Football League since 2006 and Adam Silver has been on the job as the National Basketball Association Commissioner since 2014. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred has been doing the owners’ business since 2015. In judging a commissioner’s job requirements, which is really only one requirement, Englebert succeeded. She has raised the value of each WNBA franchise. A WNBA franchise when she started the job in 2019 was worth around $10 million. In the latest round of league expansion, investors in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia paid $250 million each to join the league in 2025. The ownership of the Connecticut Sun franchise sold the business to Tillman Fertitta for a reported $300 million. That franchise will be moving to Houston for the 2027 season. She also got additional TV money.
Englebert also scored highly on the commissioner’s list as she was despised by WNBA players during labor negotiations. Englebert leaves the league in far better shape than it was in 2019. Do individual owners make an annual profit? Not known. Englebert is not leaving a tidy ship. There are contrived cultural issues within the league and a lot of stupidity issues caused by outsiders who seem to enjoy their childish pranks aimed at the league.
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