Latest / The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊 / WNBA Commissioner #CathyEngelbert is retiring after this season ends.

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WNBA Commissioner #CathyEngelbert is retiring after this season ends. · The Facts with Jamal 🇺🇸🦅👊

• 0:01
  So a story out of the WNBA just minutes ago from ESPNWNBA
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  reporter Alexa Filipov. Kathy Engelbert, who many
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  thought was going to retire after this season, is officially
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  calling it a career as commissioner after this WNBA
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  season. Well really, the playoffs are
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  over. All I have to say in regards to
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  that. Thank fucking God she is retired
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  now. I want to be, you know, point
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  this out on one man. She's actually, believe it or
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  not, the first legitimate commissioner in WNBA history.
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  Now I know what you're thinking. Well, the week has been around
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  for over 3 decades. How is that possible?
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  Here's the answer. The previous ones, they were
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  century presidents of the league.
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  They never really had transitioned to commissioners.
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  There wasn't one at the time, but in May of 2019, Engelbert
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  was the first legitimate commissioner in week history.
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  And today, according to Alexa Filipov, she is officially
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  retiring following seven years. And we're just like with
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  anybody, you know, for a lot of the successors, there was also
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  the criticism that falls in. Engelbert is no exception and
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  well, let's just highlight some of her successes in her seven
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  years as the full time commissioner.
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  Look, was she key as far as transferring the league, along
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  with several other prominent players, into a more prominent
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  league and even rising as far as his entertainment purposes?
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  Absolutely. I mean, let's not really forget
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  about that. She's also foreseen a
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  transformation of the business aspect of it.
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  Not this offseat past offseason worth standing, but the media
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  spec rights as far as you know the different networks, it's
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  going up 3.1 close to 3.2 billion and after the season's
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  over the season will go up to 50 games and by a couple years
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  later 18 markets will officially be by 20-30 after 12 franchises
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  over the past few decades. And of course she first
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  introduced the comprehensive revenue sharing model in all of
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  women's professional sports. Now, that's just a few of the
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  good that she has done over her seven years at the helm as
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  commissioner, but now it's time for the criticisms.
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  Look, it's no secret that within the past year and two, Engelbert
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  has come under fire for her in a lot of cases, lack of leadership
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  and how she has really handled how things have gone as far as
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  the league is concerned. Once this prominent name is
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  current Minnesota star in the Pisa Collier that last year
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  after Minnesota season was over, she said that Engelbert had been
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  neglected and not so long about her role as commissioner of the
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  WNBA. And she even said, quote, UN
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  quote, that the league had the worst leadership in the world.
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  Yes and look like most people in life, you know when you kind of
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  get that, unfortunately Monica said about you, you do what you
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  gotta do to kind of clean up your image, right?
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  I think we all would, but unfortunately that was just the
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  first of many dominoes to come. But after those explosive
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  remarks from Collier, there were many Board of Governors even
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  around the WNBA that just were not a fan of Engelbert
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  personally. Many sources, according to ESPN,
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  told them that she just never was able to develop sustained
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  relationships with either the owners of teams, the general
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  managers of basketball OPS or presidents, whatever.
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  And certainly when it came to the players, that was more
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  evident and were, notwithstanding the myriad of
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  nonsensical bullshit as far as you know, pushing for trans
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  rights, kids trans rights. I'm sorry, Caitlin Clark and
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  Sophie Cunningham being never any targets of scrutiny by many
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  opposition, including different fan bases.
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  The league. For me, that case, fighting for
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  recognition, respect and really equal alignment as far as, you
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  know, the WNWNBA is concerned and, you know, trying to be on
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  par with the NBA and other professional sports.
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  And not to mention the fact that within league circles at that
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  time, many behavior from fans to players, even officials
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  essentially giving the players to proverbial middle finger.
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  A lot of people say it's been problematic the last really two
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  years and that, you know, at a certain point you have to close
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  ranks and something's gonna give.
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  Cause eventually, if you don't ultimately find a way that kind
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  of bridge the problem, it's only going to get worse until it
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  actually spills out. Now, when speculation came
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  around that Engelbert had considered stepping down even
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  before the story became official from Alexa Philipov today,
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  Engelbert told The Associated Press that, look, this was my
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  decision. I just feel like it's time to
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  step down and let somebody else take the helm as commissioner.
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  But she vehemently denied that as far as, you know,
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  shareholders of WNBA clubs and even some NBA ones, that despite
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  whatever may have been said about her leadership style or
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  what's been said about her, none of those outside forces
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  propelled her to walk away after this year.
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  Playoffs are finally over. Now I'm just going to say this.
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  Do I actually believe that Engelbert, when she said that,
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  look, I didn't feel any pressure from the outside as far as, you
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  know, within the league or the NBA, or for many people that
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  questioned her leadership style. To be quite honest with you, I
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  actually don't because let's put it this way, if you were someone
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  that was feeling the heat for many people from around the
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  league, 'cause remember, the NBA is essentially been really the
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  forefront to support the dollar NBA.
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  So it's kind of like both leagues essentially.
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  So it's like if you've been feeling the heat from both
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  leagues for many players, shareholders and even general
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  managers and personnel around week circles and certainly from
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  the media that have questioned you know the type of job you're
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  doing, the real you are or aren't pushing nonsensical BS
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  which isn't needed and even the media is essentially questioning
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  your jobs situation. Calling me crazy but I really
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  have a hard time believing that other outside factors did not
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  factor in Engelbert finally stepping down into the seas.
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  But that's just me in the end, look to much of her credit for
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  in the way making the WNBA where it is now.
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  There has been a lot more criticism the past couple years
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  than successors. And look, I'm not here to say
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  that, you know, it was about time, but you kind of heard me
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  say that, you know, Thank God she's stepping down at the end
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  of the season with Tyler because look, I just got this sense from
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  a distance that I felt she had overstayed her position for far
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  too long. And it's not really because of,
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  again, the more so critical factors, which has put the rake
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  on fire, you know, as a whole. But it's like, remember this
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  past offseason when I said that, you know, when the CBA
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  negotiations were ongoing, that there have been, you know,
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  speculation that there might not even have been the season this
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  year until they finally got something done?
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  I remember sitting back and thinking, you know, the league
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  has essentially been around for almost 30 years all around that,
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  and there have been many prominent players, coaches that
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  at once made the league actually a little better than I think
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  people gave a credit for back then.
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  Regardless, whoever was, you know, the president at the time,
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  'cause remember, it wasn't until 2019 that Engelbert was actually
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  named the full time commissioner by name.
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  But it just seemed like, at least for me, the last couple
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  years, despite, you know, expansion of different
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  franchises, upping up to 18 teams within a few years, the
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  entertainment value of it, how the league is almost around 3.2
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  billion. Despite all that, I felt that
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  Engelbert has essentially turned what was a good enough league
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  into in some ways a a sideshow. And quite frankly, this entire
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  season, which I'm not going to break down because you can
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  pretty much see why that is the case.
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  See, a century has turned it into a sideshow of crunch worthy
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  nonsense. Did you just have to sit back
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  and say how did it get to this point?
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  Unfortunately, this is again, by and large the result of the
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  masses trying to stick their nose into something that quite
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  frankly, they have no business doing.
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  But in a society like ruin, everyone feels like they have to
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  essentially stick their nose into something that's none of
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  their business. And yes, I mean liberals and
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  miserable lunatics and ruin everything, but that's besides
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  the point. So look, as far as the WNBA
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  future going forward, I really have no idea who will be the
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  next commissioner. One thing I do know for sure,
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  and this is actually me being kind, they will have their work
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  cut out for them because whoever it will be hope that they can
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  actually make the WNBA into what it's supposed to be.
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  Was supposed to be just a sports league.
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  I can, you know, maybe accept a little entertainment just for
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  the sake of fun, but nothing else.
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  None of that, you know, trans ideology bullshit, you know,
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  officials going after players or even coaches and just be
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  regularly. I don't think that's really too
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  much to ask.