WNBA should be embarrassed by Chicago Sky owner, Michael Alter needs to sell | Opinion
Nancy ArmourThe WNBA should be embarrassed to have Michael Alter as one of its owners.
Alter has long run the Chicago Sky on a shoestring, unable or unwilling to provide his players with resources appropriate for a professional franchise. Now he’s dealt Angel Reese, the Sky’s biggest star and a marketing goldmine, for the equivalent of pocket change and bubble gum.
Connect the dots: the Sky’s entire payroll is going to balloon under the new collective bargaining agreement, with minimum salaries going from less than $70,000 to $270,000. At the same time, Reese's salary will jump to $350,000 this season and she could be eligible for a supermax deal worth $1.4 million as early as next year but for sure in 2027.
No way Alter can, or will, pay that. So off to the Atlanta Dream Reese is going, leaving the franchise in the country’s third-largest city an even bigger laughingstock than it was before.
"This trade is designed to achieve roster balance and represents a great opportunity for all parties,” general manager Jeff Pagliocca said in the statement announcing Reese’s trade for a pair of first-round draft picks.
Except for Sky fans, who saw ticket prices double between 2024 and 2025 and have to be wondering exactly what they’re getting in return.
Except for Kamilla Cardoso, who if she isn’t already should be looking for an exit strategy just as Candace Parker, Elena Delle Donne, Kahleah Copper, Sylvia Fowles and Gabby Williams once did.
Except for the Sky’s minority owners, one of whom is already suing Alter for allegedly violating his fiduciary duty to investors by misallocating and misrepresenting the franchise value for his own benefit.
With a new contract finally done and the Connecticut Sun’s future resolved, the last thing the WNBA wants is another headache. Yet here we are.
Alter bought the Sky in 2006, back when owners of women’s franchises could get away with being patronizing and indifferent. But times have changed, and Alter has not changed with them.
While teams like the Aces and Liberty and Fever have become revenue juggernauts, more than getting a return on their investments into facilities, staff and support services, Alter still operates the Sky as if it’s a charity project. And gets a comparable return.
The Sky will supposedly have their own dedicated practice facility soon, but it had to be built for them, which reduces potential revenue streams. In the meantime, they’re still practicing at a suburban rec center, with players sharing a locker room with grandmas who just finished water aerobics.
“I had a random lady getting changed next to me. Oh hey. Hey Wendy!” Bec Allen, who played in Chicago last season, said on the most recent episode of The 6th Woman Basketball Podcast.
The Sky plays at an arena whose primary tenant is a college team, again limiting their revenue streams. Their marketing efforts are so lackluster it took half a season to get a 20th anniversary logo on the court last year.
They had a bona fide superstar in Reese, whose appeal goes far beyond sports, and gave her away at the first opportunity.
In every manner, the Sky operates as cheaply as possible.
“A little bit miserable,” Allen said when asked to describe her experience in Chicago.
Is this really what the W wants for its Chicago franchise? When expansion teams are going for $250 million and the Connecticut Sun sold for a reported $300 million? When revenue gains by individual teams benefit the entire league?
As bad as Alter’s stewardship of the Sky, if you can call it that, is for the players stuck with the team, it’s also holding the league back financially. That alone should prompt the W, and its NBA overlords, to force an ownership change.
Encourage the Sky’s minority owners to stage a coup. Beg Ariel Investments CEO Mellody Hobson, who still lives in Chicago and has been seen at Sky games, to buy the team. Do something to ensure the Sky finally has an owner that will run the team like a professional franchise.
That is the very least the Sky, its fans and its players deserve. And since Alter can't, or won't, do it, he needs to go.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
