WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert to retire in December after transformative and tumultuous tenure

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is retiring at the end the year, bringing to a close her seven-plus years at the helm of the league and a stewardship that has been transformative and at times tumultuous.

Engelbert is the second-longest tenured WNBA president or commissioner, and she helped negotiate a lucrative collective bargaining agreement this past spring that resulted in the league's first set of million-dollar player salaries.

“Cathy has presided over the WNBA through the most significant period of growth in the league’s 30-year history,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday when announcing Engelbert's decision. “We are grateful for Cathy’s leadership and unwavering commitment to the advancement of women’s basketball.”

Engelbert, who turns 62 in November, told The Associated Press that she has been thinking about retiring for months.

“When I first came to the league I intended to do this for 3 1/2 years,” she said in a phone interview. “The 7 1/2 years exceeded that time. This is a really good time given the financial transformation journey we've been on. Getting the collective bargaining agreement done, getting a long-term media rights deal done, getting expansion done.”

Engelbert insists that the decision to leave was solely her own and that she did not feel any pressure to step down from NBA or WNBA stakeholders.

The commissioner said she has been working on a succession plan over the last few years. While she didn’t give any specifics on who might be considered for the position, Engelbert did say there are both internal and external potential candidates on the league’s radar.

“It’s a good time to hand it off to the next leader to take the ‘W’ into a better phase,” she said. “I’m proud of the team we built and everything we accomplished. A leader knows when it’s time to drop the mic and move on after building a powerhouse team in the league office.”

Engelbert said she has mixed emotions about leaving.

“I love women's basketball and am not going anywhere yet. We'll run a real succession process in the remaining four months. If we don't find someone I'll stay on," she said. "I had no transition. I walked in the door and I was by myself as no one transitioned me into this role.

"Hopefully I can help this next leader transition in especially considering the elevation of this league."

The WNBA has grown at an exponential rate during Engelbert’s tenure as commissioner, with record television ratings, strong attendance, a new long-term media rights deal and expansion to 18 teams by the end of the decade.

“I was brought in as a business leader to transform the business,” she said. “I look at revenue and merchandise, viewership and attendance,” she said, noting how they've all improved. “A great leader senses when it’s time for someone else to come in. When I came in, this league was facing questions about our long-term viability and sustainability.”

Engelbert said the growth of the league has “blown away her expectations” since she stepped into her role after leaving her previous position as president of Deloitte in 2019.

Besides the new CBA, the list of things she is most proud of includes getting charter travel for players, keeping the league going during the coronavirus pandemic, the historic media rights deal and exponential increase in the value of of WNBA franchises. In 2019, the average value of a WNBA franchise was $10 million; in 2026, it is about $460 million.

Along with the financial gains, however, turmoil and tension have accompanied the WNBA’s growth.

Players say they have seen more social media vitriol directed toward them over the last few years and some don't feel the league has done enough to ensure their safety. The league also has been at the center of discussions about transgender athletes playing in the league.

Engelbert has repeatedly said the online attacks of players are unacceptable and she backs league initiatives to protect players. She also said there should be no confusion on the transgender question.

“We have no current eligibility issues in the WNBA," Engelbert said, adding that “if we did, we would have a thoughtful policy discussion with the (players' association) and the players.”

While there was a strained partnership between the commissioner and players during the recent CBA negotiations, Engelbert insists she has a good relationship with them.

Talks between the commissioner and players have been complicated.

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, vice president of the WNBA players’ union executive committee, said before the All-Star Game that there is a respect for Engelbert among the players, just not much of a relationship.

Engelbert said she is ready to do what most retirees plan: spend more time with family.

She also admitted that the online hate she receives has affected her family as well, though she did not share details of the impact.

“There have been some hard parts of that on my family with the vitriol and hate I get online,” Engelbert said.

Her retirement will make her mother happy.

“My mom is turning 90 this year, and she said that ‘it would be good if you were retired to spend more time with me,'" Engelbert said, laughing. “I have two children, one I barely see.

"I’m one of eight kids (and I) have five brothers. They always say can you retire so you can spend more time with us."

Come Jan. 1, her family will get its wish.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

FILE - WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert speaks during a news conference before the WNBA All-Star basketball game, July 19, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)

Denmark and four other European Union countries agreed Friday on a model for “return hubs” in non-EU nations and hope to begin sending migrants to the facilities as early as 2027, an official said Friday.

The announcement, made after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, is the latest development in an effort by EU states to send people whose asylum requests have been rejected to third countries outside the bloc.

“We are moving forward toward what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common European migration and asylum system," said Morten Bødskov, Denmark's minister of immigration and integration.

He briefed reporters alongside counterparts from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The five countries have been negotiating with governments mainly in Africa over potential sites, pioneering the initiative for the whole of the EU.

Human rights groups have criticized plans to deport migrants to centers or prisons in third countries, arguing that European nations cannot guarantee their rights will be respected there.

Bødskov rejected the idea that “return hubs” were a euphemism for detention and deportation centers and said the International Organization for Migration and the UN Refugee agency would monitor the centers.

“We are not talking about camps, we are talking about opportunities, for a new chance for irregular migrants who cannot return to their own country today and who have no legal grounds to be in our countries," Bødskov said.

The UNHCR told The Associated Press that it “has not been approached with details of such a proposal,” and therefore “cannot comment on the specific arrangements being discussed or on what any potential role for UNHCR might entail.”

Although the ministers did not specify which third countries were being considered, Bødskov said they expect to reach their first deal by early 2027.

He acknowledged that the concept of “return hubs” was mocked only a few years ago and deemed incompatible with EU and international law.

EU laws, however, have changed due to public and political pressure for tougher measures against irregular migration.

European lawmakers voted in June to allow member states to set up centers outside the EU on their own or in small coalitions, and send rejected asylum seekers there instead of to their home countries.

“This is something new and it’s groundbreaking," said Bart van den Brink, the Netherlands' minister of asylum and migration.

In early August, a spokesperson for the Rwandan government said it "was natural” for her government to negotiate with European countries and others to potentially host asylum seekers who are not allowed to live elsewhere.

Speaking to Royal FM Kigali, Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo cited an emergency transit mechanism established in Gashora in 2018 for people evacuated from Libya, who could stay there until they were resettled in third countries.

Makolo said one of the ideas discussed was to offer a “safe place” where people who have nowhere else to go could get medical care, training and rest while their asylum applications were processed, until they could go back home if safe or get resettled to yet another country.

“We want to be part of a solution to a big global problem," Makolo said.

It remained unclear what countries in negotiations with EU nations would gain in return for taking Europe's rejected migrants.

Migrant rights groups have criticized European efforts to set up migrant centers abroad where it may be difficult to monitor and enforce human rights.

In an emailed statement, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, said “vague assurances of compliance with human rights law are not enough."

“States need to commit to the guardrails necessary to prevent setting up human rights black holes,” he said.

The European ministers in Copenhagen emphasized the new hubs would abide by European and international law.

Van den Brink, the Dutch immigration minister, said technical talks and missions to potential partner countries would be used “to gain more insight into the human rights situation and the living conditions of the refugees." “Because we want to do this in a European way, in line with our values and international law and human rights at its core.”

Brussels-based rights group PICUM condemned the meeting in Copenhagen.

Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland, and Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Philipp Jenne in Vienna and Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

FILE - Migrants queue to enter a refectory in Milan, Italy, on Oct. 21, 2016. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)