When is enough, enough? WNBA is at risk if Engelbert continues as its commissioner.
Inflection Point: A juncture that alters the trajectory of an enterprise.
Here we go again. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert could be on her last days after a Sports Business Journal report said NBA commissioner Adam Silver ordered her to give Phoenix Mercury player Alyssa Thomas a one-game suspension for throwing her fist at Caitlin Clark’s throat. Remarkably, Engelbert reportedly did not want to suspend Thomas at all.
Thomas receiving only a lenient suspension was a joke. Silver got involved after Clark’s fans expressed their outrage on social media.
WNBA’s Englebert under fire (photo, NY Times)
That shows Engelbert is no longer qualified for the job if she didn’t think Thomas’ act warranted a suspension. If someone did that in the workforce, they would be fired. If someone did that in a public setting, he or she would be arrested and charged with assault. The WNBA is the only league where Thomas’ act would be considered “a basketball play.”
It was interesting that someone in the NBA leaked this news to the Sports Business Journal’s Tom Friend. One would think it’s a warning to Engelbert after the criticism she has received during her run as commissioner.
One would think she would have been dismissed from her post after the WNBA and the WNBA Players Association agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement. The players did not think much of her at the time, and it’s doubtful that anything changed. The WNBA coaches likely feel the same. People who matter most are Silver and the NBA owners. They obviously like her enough to let her endure the criticism and keep her job. The league has been profitable despite her.
Let’s face it. Commissioners in sports are not hired to do what’s right for the game or to be the right stewards. They are here to ensure the owners make their money and stay happy. Rob Manfred has been incompetent for a long time as baseball commissioner, but they have stayed on since they made sure they were in good standing with the owners.
That wasn’t the case with the late Fay Vincent, who sided with the players’ union rather than work for the owners’ own interest in creating labor peace. Interestingly, Selig oversaw baseball players orchestrating a strike in 1994, and now Manfred could oversee a lockout if the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1.
There have always been constant negative public relations under NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, yet he’s Teflon since the league makes billions every year.
Courtesy: Washington Post
So yes, don’t be too quick to name Engelbert’s successor this time around. Even if she’s gone, who’s replacing her? Silver will have to find a competent person who will have the game’s best interests at heart and, most importantly, make sure the league is doing well business-wise.
It’s hard to believe anyone is in a rush to be a commissioner of a league that is still trying to be in the nation’s consciousness.
I also don’t know if Silver and the owners want to go through that exercise. If they wanted Engelbert out, she would have been dismissed a long time ago.
Here’s the thing about the WNBA commissioner: She has been known to play the political game for far too long. She has found a way to survive despite the league’s officiating problems.
Her bungling of Thomas’ suspension does not change that. Neither did skipping out on an interview with Dan Patrick last week. Going to her games. We can keep ripping her at any outlet. It won’t matter since she can take it. After all, she gets paid well to do so.
Silver and the owners don’t take the WNBA that seriously to begin with. The league remains secondary for many NBA owners — a summer revenue supplement rather than a flagship priority. That explains why there’s no accountability with Engelbert.
I was fooled into thinking Engelbert was history after the new collective bargaining agreement was reached.
You know the saying about fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. I’m not falling for that with Engelbert this time around.
