The last time the WNBA All-Star Weekend was in Chicago, four years ago, commissioner Cathy Engelbert remembered the event being smaller.
Back in Chicago this weekend for the All-Star festivities, the league is celebrating its 30th season, and Engelbert said the weekend has been the “largest, most immersive, and most accessible,” in its history.
The rapid growth of the league was among several topics Engelbert discussed in a news conference before Saturday night’s WNBA All-Star Game. Notably, Engelbert announced that in the 2027 season, the WNBA will be launching a full centralized replay center.
“This is one of the most significant investments we’ve ever made in our basketball operations,” said Engelbert, a Collingswood native. “This investment of tens of millions of dollars will help bring greater consistency, efficiency, and transparency to our officiating process while continuing to improve the quality of the game.”
SLAM DUNK 🏀
Dominique Malonga got up for the jam and Angel is loving it!#WNBAAllStar2026 | @ATT pic.twitter.com/sslXvXpQMr
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While the league is finalizing details, Engelbert said they will leverage some of the NBA’s replay center capabilities while adding their own innovations.
The WNBA has received a constant stream of backlash for its officiating. Other significant current issues include cybersecurity and player harassment, which Engelbert also addressed on Saturday.
On Tuesday, Engelbert met with players to address all three of these issues and said she collected feedback and ideas from the players. She emphasized that player safety will always be the league’s top priority, on and off the court.
“The racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the harassment, and threats directed to our players has no place in sport or anywhere else,” Engelbert said. “This is their workplace. … The WNBA is built on inclusion and respect, and those values have defined this league for 30 years, and it will continue to define us for the next 30.”
We love to see it 🤗
Dawn Staley and Cynthia Cooper share a few words court side!#WNBAAllStar2026 | @ATT pic.twitter.com/ZWxEqOvMrB
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Player experience was one of the pillars Engelbert mentioned the league investing in. Fan experience was the other.
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The plan, Engelbert said, is to continue to build on the current momentum the league is experiencing to continue growth in these areas.
“We have big plans, and if the first half of the season has shown us anything, it is that the future of the W has never been brighter,” Engelbert said.
Engelbert shared that this has been the most-watched WNBA season — and it’s at its halfway point. There have also been 29 games that have averaged over 1,000,000 viewers, the most at this point in the season. Last season had 11 games reach that milestone.
In addition to the streaming numbers, attendance has increased 16% from this point last year, said Engelbert, with more than 2.2 million fans attending games.
“When we entered this season, we did so in the strongest position in league history, coming off a historic CBA, starting a new era of media partnerships, record franchise valuations, two new expansion teams coming in this year, and excitement around the league at an all-time high,” Engelbert said. “Those milestones are marking the beginning of the next chapter of WNBA growth. And since opening night, we’ve been building on that momentum on the court.”
Those new expansion teams are the Toronto Tempo and the Portland Fire, which joined the league this season. In 2028, Cleveland will become the newest expansion team in the league, followed by Detroit in 2029, and Philadelphia in 2030.
But the question remains: Will Engelbert be around as commissioner to see these plans come to fruition?
Questions about Engelbert’s future with the league have been raised with her contract expiring at the end of the season. When asked about it Saturday, the commissioner did not offer a direct response.
“I’m so blessed to be at the helm of this league during this incredible hypergrowth period, so blessed that these players are putting the product on the court they are every night, that they stand for the values that the W has long sought for,” Engelbert said. “So I will just continue to do my job, execute the strategy, because it has been working, make sure we listen to the players, communicate with the players. And so [I] absolutely just love this league and [am] blessed to have had the career I had before and the career I have now.”