Women’s National Basketball Association Commissioner Cathy Engelbert detailed how she plans to expand the WNBA, especially since the league has seen an uptick in fans.

Engelbert’s interview was conducted a little more than a week after the WNBA’s draft broke viewership records, averaging 2.45 million viewers and peaking at 3.09 million. The commissioner explained that while the WNBA has gained a surge in popularity ahead of the season, it still needs to fill the gap in its media rights and corporate partnerships.

“It’s all driven by the economic model,” Engelbert said. “We’re building something big here from an economic perspective. We’ve been investing, our teams and owners have been investing. That’s going to fund things like higher pay and better travel for our players.”

Engelbert attributed some of WNBA’s newfound popularity to the rivalry between basketball players Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, who played for Louisiana State University and the Iowa Hawkeyes, respectively, and will soon make their league debut. She added that the WNBA has invested in marketing, specifically around these rivalries.

Additionally, Engelbert stressed how further expansion of WNBA teams is “an absolute must” in building up the league’s popularity. As such, the league is getting calls from “a ton of cities,” and the WNBA is seeking to expand its lineup from 12 teams to 16.

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The WNBA’s draft saw Reese get selected by the Chicago Sky. She played for LSU for two years, during which her team won the NCAA national championship in 2023 against the Iowa Hawkeyes with a score of 102-85.

Meanwhile, Clark was selected to join the Indiana Fever, with her debut game against the Dallas Wings on May 3 already sold out. Clark said last week that she is not pressured to make the WNBA more popular, as she believes its popularity is growing naturally.