WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announces new replay center, offers hazy outlook for her own job in 2027

The WNBA will have a new replay center in 2027. It’s less clear if it will still have commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Engelbert addressed a wide range of topics with reporters ahead of the 2026 WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago on Saturday. She used the occasion to announce that the league will have a centralized replay center starting in the 2027 WNBA season, addressing its much-criticized officiating.

The announcement was accompanied by a release promising “a seamless, high-speed replay workflow” using advanced cameras to be installed in every WNBA arena. It will be a system similar to the NBA, which Engelbert described as her league’s “big brothers.”

Engelbert’s comments:

“This is one of the most significant investments we’ve ever made in our basketball operations. This investment of tens of millions of dollars will help bring greater consistency, efficiency and transparency to our officiating process while continuing to prove the quality of the game.

“Obviously, our big brothers, the NBA, have had a replay center for many years, so we’ll leverage some of their replay center capabilities and add some innovation of our own.”

Engelbert declined to say if the WNBA will replicate the NBA’s “Last 2 Minute” report, an idea she said the league was still discussing with players.

Both ideas appear to have come out of Engelbert’s recent meeting with the WNBPA’s executive committee and Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee, in which the players aired their grievances following the Caitlin Clark-Alyssa Thomas saga that saw the officials missed Thomas’ foul on Clark, which was later upgraded to a Flagrant 2, and Thomas receive death threats.

That incident has been one of a few reasons why Engelbert’s job security has been a matter of discussion recently, including an ESPN report in which more than 20 WNBA stakeholders were reported to believe that Engelbert is “not the right person to navigate the demands the league currently faces and what its stakeholders now need.”

Asked directly if she expected to still have her job in 2027, Engelbert did not say yes or no. Instead, she emphasized how highly she values the position and all that it brings:

“I’m so blessed to be at the helm of the league during this incredible hyper growth period. So blessed that these players are putting the product on the court that they are every night, that they stand for the values the W has long sought for. I will just continue to do my job, execute the strategy because it has been working. Make sure that we listen to the players, that we communicate with the players.

Engelbert has been WNBA commissioner since 2019, a period of time that has seen the league undergo a financial transformation. She has negotiated both landmark TV deals and last offseason’s highly anticipated collective bargaining agreement, but has also received criticism on multiple fronts.

Engelbert also announced that the WNBA’s third-party investigation into the Las Vegas Aces over allegations of salary cap circumvention has finally concluded and found “insufficient evidence,” with no discipline recommended or imposted.