WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert No-Shows Dan Patrick Interview Amid Caitlin Clark Fallout
WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert is in duck-and-cover mode, and Dan Patrick just called her out on it.
Patrick was broadcasting from the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe this week. Engelbert was also there. He had promoted a sit-down interview with her all week. She agreed to it. Then she bailed.
Patrick said his team waited nearly two hours before word came down that WNBA PR had advised Engelbert not to do the interview. He was not happy.
“I thought this was going to be a good thing for the WNBA because people still want answers here,” Patrick said. “There’s so many people who have an opinion, agendas here, and this was a chance to sit down.”
He kept going. “And yes, would the questions be tough? Yes, yes. And I’m sure that had something to do with [Engelbert canceling]. So, it’s just disappointing.”
The context matters. Engelbert is facing real heat over how the league has handled a series of incidents involving Caitlin Clark. A group of Republican lawmakers recently sent a letter to the WNBA urging the league to address what they described as repeated physical hostility toward Clark. That includes the June 24 play where Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas made contact with Clark’s throat and then stepped over her. Thomas got a one-game suspension.
Jemele Hill also went on record calling Engelbert’s leadership “weak” and suggesting she is not equipped for the level of attention the WNBA is now getting.
The Clark era has forced the league into a spotlight it has never seen before. Ratings, ticket sales, social media, sponsorships, all of it is up. So is scrutiny. Every hard foul on Clark becomes a national conversation. Every officiating decision gets clipped and shared.
Engelbert has looked slow to respond every single time. Ducking a Dan Patrick interview because the questions might be tough is not going to make any of that better. It makes her look exactly like Hill described.
Patrick’s final question in his rant was the one that stung. “Did you check with PR before you said yes to us?”
The WNBA has a real chance right now to become a mainstream American league. The commissioner has to be willing to sit in tough chairs and answer tough questions. She just refused to do that on national radio. Cathy Engelbert’s job security is fair game at this point.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
