ESPN's WNBA analyst Holly Rowe has a straightforward fix for one of the league's most persistent problems concerning officiating: put former players in stripes. Appearing on Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham’s podcast Show Me Something, Rowe laid out her case for why officiating in the league has struggled, sharing what a meaningful solution could look like.

Cunningham herself has been among the loudest voices on the subject, having called WNBA referees “inconsistent” on the show’s debut episode, earning herself a $1,500 fine from the league. Rowe argued that the path to better officiating runs through the game’s own alumni.

“To become a ref at the highest levels, you have to start out probably in high school, probably in a low college,” she said on the podcast. She pointed to Julie Cromenhoek, one of the greatest three-point shooters in NCAA history at the University of Utah, as a model, noting that Cromenhoek has worked her way up to become a high-level college referee. “I want us to be growing our former players into this referee pool,” Rowe said.

The concern behind her suggestion is real. Coaches, players, and broadcasters across the league have voiced frustration over inconsistent calls, excessive physicality, and a lack of transparency from officials.

WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert acknowledged the growing discontent at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis. “As we go forward with the officiating, we hear the concerns. We take that employee input,” Engelbert said. “Every play is reviewed. We spend hours and hours and hours. Obviously, we use that to follow up with officials’ training. Consistency is important.”

That being said, part of what makes the problem harder to solve is structural.

WNBA referees are paid on a per-game basis. $1,500 for rookies and $2,500 for veterans. In comparison, NBA referees are salaried employees earning between $150,000 and $550,000 annually.

Any serious push to integrate former players into officiating pipelines would likely require the league to revisit its agreement with the National Basketball Referees Association on compensation, making the next CBA negotiation a key moment for the issue Rowe raised.

Having said that, the reaction on social media to Rowe’s suggestion was divided, with skeptics outnumbering supporters.

Fans Are Split on Holly Rowe’s Former Player Referee Proposal

The dominant sentiment was that former players would be too close to the game’s personalities to call it fairly.

“This is a terrible idea. Former players will have friendships and biases,” one user wrote.

“Nope, not a good idea,” a comment read. While another fan wrote, “they’ll be bias as f—.”

Another skeptic argued that the deeper problem would survive any personnel change, writing, “Them ex-players be forgetting where they came from, it won’t solve the problem.”

Not everyone pushed back, though, as at least one fan saw Rowe’s proposal as a genuine step forward. “Excellent idea for ex-players to become referees,” they wrote.

And while it was a minority view, it was one that reflects the same logic Rowe used: that people who have played the game are better equipped to read it.

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Written by

Joy Bassy

Edited by

Arvind Rao