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PODCAST: Cathy Engelbert talks WNBA eventual return

By Howard Megdal

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 12: Commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association Cathy Engelbert attends The 2020 MAKERS Conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on February 12, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for MAKERS)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 12: Commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association Cathy Engelbert attends The 2020 MAKERS Conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on February 12, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for MAKERS) /
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The WNBA leader has a plan — and contingencies around it all.

You’ve got questions about the WNBA’s summer ahead. Well, we’ve got answers, straight from the source: our Howard Megdal talks to commissioner Cathy Engelbert about how the decisions were made to cut down rosters now, what the locations for an eventual return need to look like, and more macro views into her thinking.

First and foremost, Engelbert is concerned about player safety, in constant contact with Terri Jackson and the WNBPA.

But she also recognizes the opportunity ahead for a league that succeeds with all who experience it, but struggles to get that initial point of contact for reasons that exhaust us all.

“It’s really important that we keep the conversation on women’s sport and WNBA, women’s best ball,” Engelbert said. “Because we had so much momentum coming into the season, which would have been our 24th season, and we would have tipped off on May 15. So now we do find ourselves in a moment of challenge for the country for the world, but we also are looking at the different kinds of opportunities that that could present to elevate more people watching.”

So: where? How? When? All of that remains to be seen, though Engelbert laid out her thinking about it all, and explained that the just-completed new collective bargaining agreement with the players has only strengthened the league’s ability to move collectively.

“Any weaknesses coming into a crisis tend to get amplified during a crisis,” Engelbert said. “And so we have strength coming into this crisis.”

Enjoy this must-listen interview here.

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