The league had started on decent financial footing in 1996, when then–NBA commissioner David Stern founded it to great fanfare. Attendance hit a high of 2.3 million in 2002. Seattle Storm star Sue Bird was drafted No. 1 that year with a $57,500 salary, she recalls, and her team stayed at Ritz-Carltons.

Cathy Engelbert has never had a cup of coffee. The 59-year-old commissioner of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) doesn’t rely on caffeine to get her through an often action-packed day–like the WNBA playoffs happening right now.

Cathy Engelbert recently declared that the rise in the WNBA's popularity was not just down to Caitlin Clark - and the league's commissioner was brutally hit back at