WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert says online vitriol at players is ‘unacceptable’

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NEW YORK — WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said the online vitriol players face is “unacceptable” as she spoke at an event on Thursday evening.

As a panelist at the CNBC X Boardroom Game Plan Summit alongside three-time WNBA champion Diana Taurasi and Kristyn Cook, executive vice president and chief agency of sales and marketing at State Farm, Engelbert was asked how the league can grow the game while limiting toxicity. She said the conversations around the WNBA are like a “microcosm in a broader society.”

“The vitriol and everything that our players receive, and I’m sure Diana (Taurasi) can remember this, is unacceptable,” Engelbert said. “But there’s so much good in the game.”

Engelbert went on to discuss the record-breaking rookie season Minnesota Lynx guard Olivia Miles is having and the 53-point performance Toronto Tempo guard Marina Mabrey had against the Los Angeles Sparks in June.

But amid those “incredible stories,” players have spoken about a lack of support they feel from the league as they navigate racism, harassment and even death threats online. Phoenix Mercury veteran Alyssa Thomas recently criticized Engelbert’s engagement on this issue after Thomas said she received online abuse following a controversial foul against Caitlin Clark and received a one-game suspension.

“As usual, she remains silent, and that’s unfortunate when our lives are being threatened,” Thomas said last month.

On Thursday, Engelbert highlighted the WNBA’s initiatives to help address the harassment, including AI technology the league is using to monitor and respond to threats, harassment and hate directed at players online. All teams are required, as outlined in the new collective bargaining agreement, to employ at least one security officer be with players during all team-related activities.

“It’s a challenge,” Engelbert said. “I’ve solved a lot of complex things in my career before I even got here and this is a challenge because it’s social media, it’s societal.”

Engelbert said the league will “continue to chip away at it.”

Most recently Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray posted a screenshot of a racial slur that was sent to her via direct message on Instagram.

“You suck you ugly ass n–,” the message said. The sender, who social media users connected to Hilton Grand Vacations, was subsequently fired. The Aces shared a lengthy statement on Wednesday supporting Gray and the “entire WNBA community.”

Gray told media members after practice on Wednesday that sharing the the vitriol pushes the issue into the spotlight. “Enough is kind of enough,” she said. “These messages are not the first of its kind. There was other stuff too, I just decided to share that one. It was just time.”

“We’re just playing a game that we love, that we work so hard to do,” Aces star A’ja Wilson said. “It’s a certain division that needs to be brought to everyone’s attention and understanding this is something that’s been going on. It’s getting to a point where alright now, enough is enough.”

Engelbert also addressed complaints about WNBA officiating. She spotlighted offseason efforts to improve officiating, including a state-of-the-game committee composed of players, college coaches, general managers and officials, as well as an officiating task force. Task force members each watched “50 to 100 hours” of film to help address the on-court physicality, which Engelbert said has “spurred some of this narrative.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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