WNBA Officiating Under Fire as Stars Demand Change

Complaining about officiating is ubiquitous across sports. It is every fan’s favorite excuse when their team loses and what every player wishes they could do in a postgame news conference.

In the current sports landscape, the loudest complaints are coming from the WNBA — and for good reason.

The league has exploded in popularity in the past two years, and with that has come increased scrutiny of how officials are calling games. Some players and fans believe the refs are overbearing and control too much of the action.

“I feel like (refs are) having too much f---ing impact on the game,” New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud bluntly said.

Others believe they are not blowing the whistle enough to curtail the physicality.

“The physicality is out of control. I think the freedom of movement is a joke,” Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “It’s not basketball, it’s rugby.”

The latter argument was amplified earlier this season when highlights of Caitlin Clark on the receiving end of flagrant fouls seemed to be a common occurrence. Some felt the league was targeting Clark, perhaps because of her popularity.

Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has acknowledged that officials allow players to guard Clark differently than others.

“There’s a level of physicality that they’re able to play with against her. I knew it as an opponent, and I see it as her coach,” White said. “I’m not exactly sure why, but it just is what it is. We’ve got to help her learn to adjust.”

Clark has missed 18 games this year — her first time missing a game since before college — due to quad and groin injuries. While the physicality may not be the sole reason, it certainly is not helping the Iowa product stay healthy.

Above all else, players and fans want consistency from the refs and accountability from the league.

A necessary step for the WNBA to improve its officiating is to invest in it. Any replay reviews in the NBA are handled by a replay center away from the action. Video reviews in the WNBA are conducted by the same referees who made the initial call.

The league also lacks a “Last Two Minute” report for every game, which catalogs and assesses officiating decisions made in the final two minutes of close contests.

Officials are in a disadvantageous situation with the low salaries they receive. WNBA refs are part-time and paid $1,538 per game as first-year officials. This necessitates that they also referee NCAA and G League games. While other leagues have dedicated referees, the WNBA relies on officials who call three different levels of basketball.

Despite the constant and open criticism — players do not even seem scared of receiving fines for comments to the media — the league is sticking by its officials.

“We own the stuff that we need to own,” head of WNBA officiating Monty McCutchen said. “There’s always going to be noise about officiating that is inaccurate. We have to stay the course to what good training and good performance look like.”

The league may truly believe that officials are steadily improving, but the near-universal outcry from players and fans has to mean something. If much of the league agrees that officiating is flawed and refereeing is clearly underfunded, changes must be made.

Poor officiating could easily hamper the growth of a burgeoning league. Coming up on a $2.2 billion media rights deal, the WNBA would be wise to address this issue soon.