The celebration of the new CBA quickly escalated into a crisis for Cathy Engelbert. Madeline Kenney of the New York Post wrote it best: “WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert on Monday was trying to take a victory lap, basking in the afterglow of the new CBA. Then she started putting out fires with gasoline.” But what exactly did the already heavily criticized commissioner say? Well, she referenced one of the most important points in the CBA negotiations that has brushed fans in the wrong way.

There were three major flashpoints in these past CBA negotiations. The revenue share, where the players were asking for a chunk of the pie. According to Engelbert, that is something they “wanted to give.” Improved working conditions for the players was another one. And the final factor being housing. The league proposed removing the housing offering, which has been a feature since 1999. Eventually, after intense negotiations and protest, it was included in the CBA. Yet, Cathy Engelbert now implied that it was something unnecessary.

“I didn’t know how important and emotional that was for them because I just assume, having two children in their 20s, who pay for their own housing, that once they were making these much-increased salaries, that that wasn’t something they would need or want,” Engelbert said. “But they made it very clear it was very important to them. It was an emotional issue.”

She further maintained that they worked with the players to get to a state where it worked for both sides. “The housing was one where they were very, very clear and we listened very, very hard and we got to a really good place together on that,” she said. Nevertheless, her characterization of this issue has earned Engelbert major backlash among the fans. 

WNBA Community Accuses Cathy Engelbert Of Being “Out Of Touch”

“Lmao, she is such a dumb*ss. Why would you correlate playing professional sports to a corporate job…they’re so far apart,” wrote a fan. 

There is a huge difference in being a professional athlete and doing a corporate job. Just because technically they are earning higher salaries doesn’t mean their earning potential is the same. The careers in women’s basketball last 10-15 years, while corporate careers last much longer. As an athlete, injury can strike that earning potential at any time. Yes, the WNBA players are now earning much higher but it’s still nowhere close to the NBA. In addition, there is that major issue of frequent relocation.

“Her kids aren’t getting put on teams in different cities, getting traded, only living in these cities part of the year, etc,” pointed out another.  While many players are on permanent contracts, some are on training camp contracts and may be traded or waived midseason, restarting the process each time they move. In addition, the WNBA season is still only 4 months. Housing is not just another perk, but it gives players stability.

They need to keep housing. That is a huge thing. They can’t get rid of that,” a player told ESPN. “But if they say OK, but then we’re going to extend the season—you need to play more games and it’s going to take more months of the year, I would be ok with that, as an example.” So, the housing benefits could fade in time as the league expands. But it was also how Cathy Engelbert treated this issue that was problematic to the fans. 

“I’m sorry, a woman who is supposed to be a trailblazer frames player concerns as ’emotional.'”  We need a better face of the WNBA,” wrote a fan. Throughout the CBA negotiations, the players have asked for more respect. Satou Sabally once called an offer from the league a “slap in the face.” After that Napheesa Collier outburst, the fans and the players already perceive Engelbert as an anti-player Commissioner.

“She comes across as obtuse. No need for the snotty remark about her kids. Completely out of touch. Zero empathy too. Just bad,” commented a fan. After Collier torched Engelbert in the media, she had committed to serving the players better. “If the players in the W don’t feel appreciated and valued by the league, then we have to do better, and I have to do better.”

With the CBA finalized after intense negotiations, there is one win on Engelbert’s side of the ledger. However, there is little information regarding what the players think about her continuing as the league leader. When she was asked about it, Engelbert dodged it by saying, “I wonder whether you’ll ask that of a man, by the way. I realized as women we get asked different questions than men do.” That statement coupled with this, many in the WNBA community have once again turned against Engelbert.

“She’s still too out of touch. They need someone who actually played in the league to do that commish job. A corpo will never understand anything beyond the numbers,” suggested another fan. While the WNBA can have a new commissioner, it will be very unlikely that a former player becomes one. The closest the fans can get is Engelbert, who played some college ball at Lehigh. 

With the CBA now in place, the bigger question lingering in the background is if the league and its players can rebuild trust moving forward.