WNBA is not forcing Dream’s Kelly Loeffler to sell

WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said Atlanta Dream co-owner Kelly Loeffler, an American senator from Georgia, will not be forced to sell her interest in the team, but that the league knows other potential franchise owners. .

Several WNBA players have asked that Loeffler no longer get involved with the team due to his comments opposing the league embracing Black Lives Matter as one of its main social justice initiatives this season.

“We are not going to force her to sell her property,” Engelbert told CNN in an interview Thursday. “She is not a current governor, she is not involved in the day to day and we are aware that there are stakeholders who want to buy the equipment.”

“We have a board of governors, she has not served as a governor since she became a senator, so since October 2019.”

On July 10 in The Daily Caller, Loeffler reiterated his opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement, as he had done in a letter sent to Engelbert, referring to the organization as a “radical Marxist group actively promoting violence and destruction throughout the country”.

“Let me be clear: Every African American life is important and must be valued,” Loeffler wrote. “We must eradicate racism, pursue justice and guarantee equality for all. But that is not the objective of the Black Lives Matter political organization. To make the claim that ‘black lives matter’ and support the nefarious entity of the same name. they are two very different things. “

Loeffler also said that “the left” was trying to silence her and take her business, and that she was not going to quit the team.

“We review all public statements from our owners,” said Engelbert. “We are aware that there are stakeholders who want to buy the equipment, and I know that is being worked on, but I cannot really comment on everything that is said in the political environment.”

Engelbert, who has been a commissioner for a year, also told CNN that she had been surprised to receive Loeffler’s letter.

“Since the short time I have known her … she has been very supportive of women’s issues and women’s empowerment, has been very interested in her players and what they stand for,” Engelbert said in the CNN interview. “So I was surprised to receive it, but as a commissioner I am committed to making sure that the player platform, to strongly advocate for social justice, is what we are dedicated to this season.”

CNN also asked Engelbert about the situation with Elena Delle Donne of defending champion Washington Mystics. Delle Donne is not happy that she was denied a medical exemption for this season from the WNBA in Bradenton, Florida due to her history of Lyme disease, and suggested in an ESPN interview on Wednesday that her MVP status could have It had something to do with the decision made by the panel that reviewed his case.

“We are really sensitive to Elena’s health and we support her,” Engelbert told CNN. “What we’ve been trying to do all season is follow the science of the virus.”

“We put in place a process, which we worked collectively with the players association, to create a level playing field for all WNBA players so that everyone was treated fairly. It is an independent medical review panel, and the level of Player was not a factor in making medical decisions. “

Engelbert also noted that the mystics said they would pay Delle Donne’s salary this season, as she repays after back surgery she had in January. Delle Donne’s agent Erin Kane told ESPN on Wednesday that Delle Donne and the mystics were still finding out if that would require her to go to the mystics’ training facility in Washington, DC. Delle Donne also has concerns about going there, Kane said.