Sky reaching out to suburban families in its new Rosemont home

Avoiding the horrendous construction traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway wasn't the reason the Chicago Sky made a fastbreak from the UIC Pavilion to its new home at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

All the same, team officials are glad to be away from that mess.

As Chicago's WNBA franchise enters its fifth year, CEO Margaret Stender wants suburban basketball fans to become more familiar with the women hoisting jump shots and boxing out for rebounds while wearing the team's baby blue and canary yellow uniforms.

She identified families as the Sky's target niche, stressing how the team caters to young children with activities for them before tip off.

"The fans for the Sky and the WNBA are very different than for many pro sports. It's very family-friendly," she said. "We have a lot more kids, a lot more women than you would see at other pro sports events."

League officials applaud Stender and the team's efforts to make changes to grow a fan base that ranked last in the WNBA last year with attendance averaging 3,400 per game.

WNBA President Donna Orender said playing at the UIC Pavilion put the Sky at a disadvantage with the West Side Chicago arena's small capacity. Orender and Stender praise Allstate Arena's facilities, and Stender predicts a sellout for the home opener on Saturday, May 22, though only lower-bowl tickets will be sold.

Allstate Arena "is just a bigger, fan-friendly facility in terms of the kinds of amenities," Orender said.

The Sky game experience differs from most pro contests, just like its fan base. While WNBA arenas serve alcohol, that's not the focus, Stender said. Fans also won't see cheerleaders.

The focus will be on a family-friendly experience. "We're very inviting and inclusive," Stender said. "It's a very diverse audience and we love that."

Allstate Arena Executive Director Harry Pappas said he will consider the season successful if the Sky averages 4,000 fans per contest for its 17 home games.

The team has only made seating available in the arena's lower level, which has a 7,600-seat capacity. At this point, there's not enough demand to open seats upstairs.

The UIC Pavilion's total capacity is just under 7,000. Last season the DePaul men's basketball team averaged 8,451 fans for its games at Allstate Arena.

The Sky needs to continue to try new plans to lure fans, said Sports Business Journal's Donald Muret. He spent 14 years in Chicago covering the arena industry and he said the move to Rosemont is an example of the Sky trying to further endear itself to its target audience.

"It's more of a case of getting back to their core market," he said.

The Sky will benefit from playing in Rosemont, Pappas said, touting the arena's location and familiarity to fans. And, of course, the arena will benefit from having another tenant in the summer, when fewer events are booked and most bands are busy playing outdoor venues.

"We don't market the team, but certainly we will make every effort to contact all the school organizations, and it's in the summer - they can certainly bring in the kids," Pappas said, talking up the grass-roots connections the arena has throughout the suburbs.

While the Sky's ownership group is not tied to its NBA counterpart, the WNBA club enjoys a good relationship with the Bulls, Stender said. She points to the ownership groups of the Phoenix Mercury and Washington Mystics as her idea of model franchises.

While she learns from teams like those, the Chicago market presents unique challenges, she said.

"Every market has its own nuances, personalities and competitive landscapes," she said. "We have two baseball teams, and a very long winter and short summer - it's different."

The village of Rosemont, which owns the Allstate Arena, has welcomed the Sky.

Stender was the keynote speaker at a luncheon in April with the Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Park Ridge and Rosemont chambers of commerce. The Westin O'Hare in Rosemont is the team's official hotel and where all the Sky's opponents will stay while in town.

The team hopes a new television deal provides an attendance bump. Last year four games were televised, but this season Comcast cable customers can tune into Comcast CN100 for 28 games. Two more games will be shown on ESPN2.

"That's great exposure," the WNBA's Orender said.

Some WNBA teams have benefitted from signing stars with local connections. For the Sky, the ideal situation would be to acquire superstar Candace Parker, who grew up in Naperville and now plays for the Los Angeles Sparks.

Don't count on that happening, though. "Would you trade her?" Stender asks.

Winning, of course, is the best medicine for ailing attendance. While the Sky didn't secure a playoff berth in its first four seasons, the team came close last season when it finished at 16-18, missing the postseason by the fourth tiebreaker, which was total points scored.

But it's a new year and a new stadium and Stender is hopeful there will be playoff hoops this year in Rosemont.

"It would be tremendous for Chicago fans," Orender agreed.