Does the WNBA ask for respect more often than it shows respect to others?
Respect the players. Respect the league. Respect the game. Fair enough.
But what about the fans who buy tickets? Players who hold a different view? And, yes, the rule book?
The 2026 season is over, at last. The argument around it isn’t. The WNBA is thriving in some ways, but it also seems to keep picking fights with the very people paying attention. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert often sounds as if she’s handing out a fiddle while the building needs a fire extinguisher. And some sports coverage focuses more on criticizing the people pointing out the flames than on the flames themselves.
Before we get to all that, there’s a T-shirt question worth asking.
I’ve worked for Walt Disney Studios, the WWF and the Dodgers. My wife and I now run an independent production company. I always thought running a business was fairly simple: offer something people want, make them feel welcome and give them a reason to return.
Maybe I missed the seminar about resenting your customers.
People are finally looking in on the WNBA. More are buying tickets, following players and watching games. You’d think that would be a good moment to welcome them. Instead, parts of the league seem to be telling people they’re watching for the wrong reason, rooting for the wrong player or wearing the wrong shirt.
I’ve had easier relationships with cable companies.
I can’t think of many businesses that work so hard to make new customers regret showing up. Hollywood has managed something similar for years: insult the audience, then wonder why people find something else to do on opening weekend. The WNBA seems keen to test that approach with a shot clock.
The escape lane
Consider A’ja Wilson’s confrontation with a fan during the Indiana playoff series. The league rule book says a player who intentionally enters the stands, except as part of the action, can be ejected. After a long discussion, officials gave Wilson a technical foul and stopped there.
The league declined to impose any further penalty, saying Wilson had remained in the “player escape lane.”
The player escape lane? In the footage, Wilson appears to move toward the fan and lean over him in his second-row seat. Apparently, the boundary can stretch quite a bit. Does it reach the concession stand? The parking lot? Somewhere, a surveyor is probably watching the video and reconsidering his career.
Show people where the boundary is. Explain the decision. Apply the rule consistently.
Then there’s the officiating, which brings us to Caitlin Clark. During a June game, Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas struck Clark in the throat with her fist. The officials called no foul. The league later reviewed the play, ruled it a flagrant 2 and suspended Thomas for one game.
At least the league eventually acknowledged what had happened. The officials on the floor, though, seemed to need a little time to catch up.
In Indiana’s deciding playoff game against Las Vegas, Clark finished with a bloody mouth, but there was no flagrant review. Lexie Hull was taken down in what looked like a wrestling suplex, and Hull was called for the foul.
I worked in the WWF, before it became WWE. I’ve seen plenty of people get taken to the mat. At least there, when somebody landed on his back, it was usually clear who had done the slamming.
The answer is better officiating for everyone: Clark, Reese, Hull, Cunningham, Wilson. All of them. Basketball is physical, obviously. So is moving furniture. Still, you notice when someone drops a refrigerator on you.
Instead, we get another promise that things will improve. The league says it plans to use the NBA’s centralized replay facility starting in 2027. Good. Rome’s new sprinkler system opens next spring.
The golden goose
Meanwhile, the league keeps giving people reason to wonder whether its biggest commercial draw is valued by the people around her.
Clark finished 11th among guards in player voting for the All-Star Game. The league’s own announcement had her fifth in scoring and second in assists. She was second among guards in fan voting, third in media voting and ultimately named a starter.
You can debate who should be first. Eleventh takes a bit more imagination.
I’m starting to suspect some ballots were filled out using the same map that placed Wilson in the escape lane.
The golden goose is bringing people through the gates. Some of her colleagues, meanwhile, seem to be looking for the stuffing.
That doesn’t mean the other players lack talent. They don’t. And the WNBA didn’t begin with Clark. But her popularity has helped drive growth, bringing in more money for media deals, higher salaries and opportunities across the league. The smart move is to give those new fans reasons to stick around and discover the rest of the talent.
The selective sisterhood
There’s also the issue of racism.
The WNBA and its media defenders have rightly condemned racist behavior directed at Black players. No one should face racial abuse for playing basketball.
But that principle can seem less clear when the hostility is aimed at white players.
Chicago’s DiJonai Carrington was ejected after hitting Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham in the head and neck. Carrington then posted “WHITE PRIVILEGE” and tagged the Fever.
Imagine a white player committing a hard foul on a Black opponent, getting ejected, and then posting “BLACK PRIVILEGE” at the other team. How long would that dominate the coverage?
I keep hearing that judging people by their skin color is wrong. I agree. Racism aimed at Black players is wrong; racism aimed at white players is wrong. That should be a pretty simple policy.
Then there’s Cunningham, who has said she wants to protect girls’ opportunities and safety in girls’ sports. Coaches and players can disagree with her. But disagreement often seems not to be enough. She has to be condemned, corrected and held up as an example.
And apparently, you should check your shirt at the door. The wardrobe rules seem to depend on who’s wearing it.
Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve wore a “Trans kids belong” shirt while coaching against Indiana. Fans wearing XX-XY Athletics shirts, which support female-only sports, have reportedly been asked to cover them.
At Game 1 of the Finals, XX-XY Athletics founder Jen Sey and friends wore the company’s shirts. Sey said fans cursed at them and told her to kill herself, and posted video of part of the confrontation. After complaints about their clothing, security pulled the group aside.
Earlier in the season, Seattle Storm co-owner Celeste Keaton confronted young fans wearing XX-XY shirts. The league fined her and suspended her from five home games. Good; it took action. But an owner shouldn’t need a league penalty to understand how to treat paying customers.
Usually, when an owner comes over to your seat, you might expect a handshake and a thank-you. Now you might wonder whether you should have a lawyer on hand.
It’s a curious version of inclusion. Everybody belongs, except you.
The rule book, again
Here’s another issue I care about: the national anthem.
In all seven games of the championship Finals, the Atlanta Dream and Golden State Valkyries left the floor before the anthem and returned after it ended. The Valkyries said it was part of a long-standing pregame routine.
I’ve seen the timing. As a veteran, I find it offensive that they’re absent during the anthem. Others may see it differently, and I’m not asking them to agree with me. I am asking the league to explain its own rule.
The WNBA rule book includes language about players standing and lining up during the anthem. The league suspended those protocols in 2017. If the rule is suspended, say so clearly. If teams are allowed to leave, explain who made that decision. And if the words no longer mean what they seem to say, why are they still there?
The league can spot a shirt it dislikes from across an arena. Finding a straight answer in its rule book seems to take a search party.
The media plays along
Some of the coverage has been selective, too. USA Today columnist Nancy Armour invoked the murder of Emmett Till in a column about Clark’s reactions on the court. Think about how far a sports column has to reach to connect a basketball player disputing calls with one of the most horrific racial murders in American history.
The Guardian described Cunningham’s concerns about girls competing against biological males as an “anti-trans dog-whistle.” It’s a convenient way to avoid engaging with someone’s actual argument: assign it an ugly motive and move on.
The WNBA doesn’t need a cheering section in the press box. It needs people willing to cover the whole story.
One survey offers an interesting snapshot. A YouGov poll of 1,417 American adults found that Clark had a 56% favorable rating and an 11% unfavorable rating. Sophie Cunningham’s favorable rating was 38%. Angel Reese’s was 24%, while 21% viewed her unfavorably and 54% said they didn’t know who she was.
Popularity doesn’t mean someone is right about everything. It doesn’t win basketball games, either. But it should tell the league something about the people drawing an audience to its product.
And just when you might think the WNBA couldn’t make its business any harder, there was Game 6 of the Finals. Tip-off at Atlanta’s State Farm Arena was scheduled for 12:30 on a Thursday afternoon. That meant 9:30 in the morning for Golden State fans.
Nothing says championship basketball quite like catching the opening tip between your first cup of coffee and your second meeting.
A new conductor
Cathy Engelbert has announced she’ll retire as commissioner at the end of the year. Having worked for large corporations, I know how these announcements can sound.
“Thank you for your years of service and dedication. There’s cake in the conference room and a lovely parting gift on the table. Oh, and your key card stops working at five.”
Engelbert says the decision was hers. All right; I’ll take her at her word.
The bigger question is what comes next. Will the next commissioner enforce rules consistently, protect all the players and welcome fans who don’t think exactly like everyone in the front office?
The WNBA has grown. It has new viewers, new money and new opportunities for extraordinary athletes. That’s something valuable to lose.
Give fans a better game. Enforce the rules. Protect the players. Treat customers with respect. Let people disagree without deciding that half the audience should be shown the door.
Instead, we keep getting smoke, excuses and another lecture.
Rome is burning, league leaders are fiddling, and too many sportswriters are reviewing the concert.
