Welcome to Sideline Moves, Insider Sport’s weekly roundup spotlighting the key moves shaping the business of sport.
Cathy Engelbert will retire as WNBA commissioner. The ECB named Leah Poulton to run England Women.
LeBron James signed with prediction market Polymarket, and talkSPORT hired Jon Norman as sports rights manager.
Engelbert to retire as WNBA commissioner
Cathy Engelbert will retire as WNBA commissioner at the end of the 2026 season, the league said on 4 September. NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced the decision. Engelbert, 61, has held the role since July 2019, when she became the league’s first commissioner.
She told the Associated Press she had weighed retirement for several months. The WNBA signed a media-rights deal in 2024 with Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal reported at $2.2bn over 11 years, and has since added Paramount, Scripps, Versant and NBA TV, taking the total above $3bn.
Napheesa Collier criticised Engelbert’s leadership in an end-of-season press conference in 2025, and the league has not named a successor.
Poulton named ECB managing director of England Women
The England and Wales Cricket Board has appointed Leah Poulton as Managing Director of England Women. Poulton, 42, a former Australia batter who played 90 times, will start in November and succeed Clare Connor. She will be accountable for England Women, England Women A, England Women U19s and the women’s high-performance system.
Poulton spent the past six years as head of elite female cricket at Cricket New South Wales. ECB CEO Richard Gould said Poulton’s playing experience and administrative record would help England Women.
Connor left the ECB after 18 years.
LeBron James signs Polymarket partnership
LeBron James announced a partnership with prediction market Polymarket on 5 September. James posted a video on X captioned “Welcome to Polymarket HQ. Coming soon.” Polymarket described the deal as an exclusive partnership and said further details would follow.
James is the first NBA player to partner with Polymarket. Giannis Antetokounmpo became a Kalshi shareholder in February and Lionel Messi signed with Kalshi in June. Prediction-market brands account for about $50m of US sports-betting advertising spend in 2026, Forbes reported.
talkSPORT hires Norman as Sports Rights Manager
talkSPORT has appointed Jon Norman to the new role of Sports Rights Manager. Norman will oversee rights acquisitions and global commercial deals and continue as Head of Cricket, reporting to Head of talkSPORT Liam Fisher.
talkSPORT holds UK audio rights to the 2026 FIFA World Cup and audio partnership rights to the Champions League and Premier League. The station is owned by News UK‘s News Broadcasting.
Snapshot Moves
- Dude Perfect‘s first CEO, Andrew Yaffe, is leaving the sports content company by mutual agreement. Patrick Hurley, an investor and adviser, becomes interim CEO.
- Kings League MENA appointed Wael Al-Fayez as its first Managing Director on 3 September. Al-Fayez was previously Chief Commercial Officer at the Saudi Pro League.
- Roland Wycherley is set to end nearly 30 years as Shrewsbury Town owner after an American consortium’s takeover cleared the Independent Football Regulator and the EFL on 7 September. The buyers have not been named.
- Nigeria’s National Sports Commission suspended the NFF elective congress set for 27 September and FIFA approved an interim management committee, after President Ibrahim Musa Gusau and the executive committee resigned.
LIV Golf filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on 8 September in New Jersey with more than $500m in debt. CEO Scott O’Neil said a restructuring deal with BC Partners and PIF financing would let it emerge in 2027 with players as majority owners; the filing had been trailed in recent weeks.
