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WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert. Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

WNBA commissioner addresses officiating concerns, Caitlin Clark comments

By Adam Gretz | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 8:32 PM ET

It is a tense time for the WNBA as labor negotiations and criticism of the league's officiating have dominated the news cycle as the league heads into its championship series between the Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces on Friday night. Things reached a boiling point this week when Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier shared details of a meeting she had with league commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Prior to Game 1 of the WNBA Finals on Friday night, Engelbert held a news conference and addressed Collier's statement, as well as some of the biggest talking points in the WNBA right now.

Cathy Engelbert denies most inflammatory comments

The comments from Collier that drew the most negative attention was her claim that Engelbert said the league's players, and specifically Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark, should be thanking her and the WNBA for what they have done for them.

Relating to Clark, Collier said Engelbert told her Clark should be grateful to the league for giving her a platform to make what she does in endorsements.

Aside from the fact that Clark was already making huge money before she was even drafted through NIL at Iowa, it's just a horribly misguided view of how the league and its players are currently viewed.

On Friday, Engelbert denied making those comments, and specifically the comments about Clark, saying that there were a lot of "inaccuracies" in what Collier said. She also added that her and Collier are looking to meet again sometime next week.

"I'm just obviously disheartened. You know, I'm a human, too. I have a family. I have two kids who are devastated by these comments. All I'll say is it's obviously been a tough week, and I just think there's a lot of inaccuracy out there." - WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert pic.twitter.com/rUjdGrpKjJ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 3, 2025

While Engelbert has helped secure new media rights deals for the league and overseen league expansion, there is still a lot of work to be done to get the players more money and benefits.

Cathy Engelbert acknowledges league might be wrong on officiating

Officiating has been a season-long issue, and it has only gotten worse in the playoffs. During the semifinals the league suspended Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve for an elimination game after she called for major changes to how the league is officiating.

The suspension spoke volumes as to what WNBA leadership thought of those comments, while the league has consistently pushed back on officiating concerns.

But on Friday, Engelbert seemed to acknowledge that perhaps the league's stakeholders and owners do not quite see eye-to-eye with her on the state of officiating.

Cathy Engelbert: "It's pretty clear that we're misaligned currently on what our stakeholders want from officiating." Says the league is gonna take a hard look via the competition committee and a newly formed state of the game committee
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) October 3, 2025

That is a huge change from the league's previous position and would be a major win for everybody, from players, to coaches to the fans themselves.

Engelbert acknowledged she needs to do better and do more to regain the trust of the players, and that she thinks it can be rebuilt. But given the way the players around the league reacted to Collier's news conference, and the way the universally rallied around each other, shows there is quite a long way to go before that can happen. Especially after she implied Collier misrepresented her comments.

Adam Gretz

Adam Gretz is a freelance writer based in Pittsburgh. He covers the NHL, NFL, MLB and NBA. Baseball is his favorite sport -- he is nearly halfway through his goal of seeing a game in every MLB ballpark. Catch him on Twitter @AGretz

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