WNBA proves it can screw up non-Caitlin Clark stuff, too with for-profit college deal

The WNBA cannot get out of its own way. The league is experiencing a boom as more and more fans tune in to women’s sports. Superstars who rose through the college ranks have pulled their fanbases up with them. The American start-up is stronger than ever despite neglectful leadership and an inability to consistently and effectively officiate its own games.

That balance is familiar to WNBA fans. Steps forward are tempered by jumps backward. So, in the midst of a successful season, it wasn’t enough that Caitlin Clark‘s treatment had become, incredibly, a subject worthy of Congressional intervention. Commissioner Cathy Engelbert dug deeper, announcing a partnership with a for-profit college known better for alleged predatory practices and straight-up fraud than its alumni.

Capella University is a for-profit institution founded in 1993. Despite a limited history, the college managed to fit in four different subheadings in the “controversies” section of its Wikipedia page. The school has been accused of mismanaging federal funding, making it impossible for students to graduate on time and spending excessively on marketing and executive pay rather than education. It has also been accused of misconduct and fraud to the point of being part of a $6 billion student loan debt cancellation settlement in 2023.

Despite all this — and despite (or perhaps because) the fact that the majority of students attaining these degrees of questionable value at a high cost are women and people of color — the WNBA decided this was the perfect brand to make its Official Higher Learning Partner.

The deal is a great one for Capella, regardless of cost. It gets an added layer of legitimacy and the opportunity to market more directly to its base of potential students. It’s a terrible deal for the WNBA, which trades cash at the expense of shoveling more dirt on an already tarnished reputation. More eyes are on the league than ever before. Now they’ll see it next to a for-profit college, looking, in the best case, to be the University of Phoenix for a new generation.

At a time when higher education is contracting, the WNBA partnered with a school that puts profit before its students. Capella University has repeatedly shown it cannot be trusted to operate in a way that puts education first. It has misused government funding. It enticed students to take out loans to pursue degrees that failed to justify their cost. It is not an environment conducive to learning. It operates only in the service of money.

Now it’s an official WNBA partner, the league that wants nothing more than to squander any and all credit as quickly as possible.