In July, Cathy Engelbert walked onto the court at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, beaming before the crowd of 18,000 that watched the WNBA All-Star Game. The WNBA commissioner was not-so-secretly thrilled that Team WNBA—which bore her league’s name—notched a 117–109 upset over ­Olympic-bound Team USA, also made up of WNBA players. “This is going to get great reviews,” says Engelbert, 59.

The All-Star Game was just one in a string of resounding successes for the league in 2024. Fan numbers have been swelling. ESPN viewership climbed 170% to 1.2 million per game; teams sold 400,000 tickets in one month; and 21 games garnered more than 1 million viewers each—18 of which featured the Indiana Fever and their No. 1 draft pick, Caitlin Clark.

These stats seemed unattainable five years ago, when Engelbert arrived. She left a job overseeing $20 billion in revenue and 100,000 employees as U.S. CEO of consulting firm Deloitte, and inherited a staff of 12 and, months later, a pandemic-induced existential crisis at a league with little financial cushion to save it from missing a season.

With bare-bones staffing, an underdog mentality, and the NBA calling the biggest shots, the WNBA wasn’t built to infiltrate pop culture. But as the league’s fandom grows, some players, agents, and owners question whether the foundation Engelbert laid is enough to fully capitalize on this history-making moment in women’s sports.

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