Sports
WNBA All-Star Weekend Returns to Chicago: ‘The City Is Absolutely Buzzing’
For the WNBA, four years makes quite the difference.
In 2022, news leaked just three months prior to All-Star Weekend that Chicago would serve as the host city.
Public access to events surrounding the game was limited. And Wintrust Arena was already booked for a Pampered Chef conference, so the league installed a temporary court in McCormick Place for the three-point contest.
“Allie Quigley broke a three-point contest record that time,” said Maggie Hendricks, reporter at The IX Sports. “It looked cool on TV, but it did not look cool when you were there.”
That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of excitement for women’s basketball around the city. The Sky had just raised the banner from their 2021 championship run in Wintrust Arena, and would finish the season tied for the league’s best record.
But the contrast between then and now, as the city again prepares to host All-Star festivities, shows just how far the league has come — and how much more adept it is at capitalizing on fan enthusiasm.
“The city is absolutely buzzing,” said Clarissa Flores, the founder and CEO of Level Sporting Club, a women’s sports bar in Wrigleyville. “Restaurants are busy, hotels are busy. You can feel the energy.”
In addition to Saturday’s All-Star game at the United Center and Friday’s three-point contest at Wintrust Arena, events will be taking place around the city throughout the weekend.
On Friday, Home Court at the Obama Presidential Center will see its first professional action when it hosts a team practice. And earlier this week, the WNBA’s Line ‘Em Up Initiative took over Foster Park to paint a WNBA-regulation three-point line on the basketball court.
“We’re experiencing a cultural shift in women’s sports, and Chicago is at the heart of that,” Flores said. “We’re going to be known as the women’s sports mecca of the world.”
This all comes as the players themselves now share a bigger financial stake in the growth of the league.
In March, the WNBA Players Association and the league signed a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that raised salaries and instituted revenue sharing between players and owners, a long sought-after provision by players.
Now, team salary caps sit at $7 million, up from $1.5 million in 2025. Minimum salaries outpace the supermax salaries of one year prior, while the highest earners top out at $1.4 million for a season — a number that, while high, is about on par with the lowest-paid rookies in the men’s league.
The CBA also set new standards for team practice facilities, albeit with a 2028 deadline. Until then, teams with better facilities may still have an edge in recruiting players.
For the Sky, this could represent a missed opportunity.
This weekend could have served as an opportunity to show off a new practice facility, which the organization broke ground on in 2024, to the league’s best players. However, the facility is not yet complete.
“The salaries, you can only do so much with,” Hendricks said. “But in showing how a player will be treated like a professional, how they’ll get to recover well, how they’ll get to just have a great place to hang out with their teammates — that’s what a lot of the best teams are offering.”
And for the hometown fans, one downside is that no Chicago Sky players were selected as all-stars this year. In fact, fans will have to watch several notable misses take the court.
Angel Reese, Marina Mabrey and Kahleah Copper have all gone on to find success with other teams after leaving Chicago. Even rookie stand-out Olivia Miles, who was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx using a pick traded from the Sky, will stand in as a reminder of what could have been.
“Fans have had to suffer the disappointment of seeing great players walk away,” said Alissa Hirsh, the Sky beat reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times.
But the future still holds promise for the local team. Just this year, Rickea Jackson, Sydney Taylor and Kamilla Cardoso have all shown flashes of future stardom.
“Three very exciting young players who could potentially be a foundation for this team for the future,” Hirsh said.
