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Chicago native and three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade is the latest to join the Chicago Sky’s ownership group, adding to a growing list of celebrities and high-profile investors pursuing a stake in the league.
Wade previously showed interest in the Sky during a visit to the team’s Deerfield facilities in June, where he observed a practice and spoke to players. An alumni of Richards High School, Wade emphasized the importance of investing in his hometown while supporting the Sky.
“It’s an incredible feeling being on this side of history,” Wade wrote on Twitter. “To see growth, on the business side, for something that I’ve been passionate about my whole life is an amazing feeling. There are amazing things happening in the WNBA. It’s official! This is for the home team — literally.”
The percentage of Wade’s stake has not been made public and his investment still awaits approval from the WNBA Board of Governors.
Wade has joined ownership groups for the Utah Jazz in the NBA and Real Salt Lake in MLS since his retirement from basketball in 2019. The WNBA has welcomed many high-profile athletes such as Wade to team ownership groups in recent seasons, including Magic Johnson (Los Angeles Sparks) and Tom Brady (Las Vegas Aces).
This latest investment is a reflection of change for the franchise amid upheaval on the court following the offseason departures of former stars Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Azura Stevens and the midseason exit of former head coach and general manager James Wade.
Wade is the eighth minority owner the Sky have added to their investor group this season, including new operating chair Nadia Rawlinson and Chicago Cubs owner Laura Ricketts. The Sky received an $85 million valuation after owners sold 10% of the franchise to eight minority owners — six new investors, plus Rawlinson and longtime minority owner John Rogers — in June.
Rawlinson and the ownership group have committed to moving the Sky out of Sachs Recreation Center in Deerfield and into a new purpose-built training facility within the next two to four years, an investment that would keep the franchise level with competitors throughout the WNBA.
