Obama Center will host WNBA All-Star events in place of unfinished Chicago Sky facility

The recently opened Obama Presidential Center will play a major part in WNBA All-Star weekend.

The league announced Wednesday that the Obama Center will host several media and community events throughout the July 24-25 showcase. All-Star media day and an open practice will take place there July 24, making use of the center’s 60,000-square-foot athletic facilities and regulation court.

The Obama Center also will host WNBA Changemaker Day and Jr. WNBA Day on July 24. The community activations are focused on empowering women in business and connecting girls with basketball fundamentals.

The All-Star Game will be played July 25 at the United Center, and the 3-point contest and skills challenge will take place July 24 at Wintrust Arena.

“Hosting AT&T WNBA All-Star events at the Obama Presidential Center is a true honor and reflects our commitment to creating connections through basketball and engaging communities in meaningful ways,” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a news release. “We’re excited to bring together the WNBA family and the greater Chicago community to create memorable experiences at this historic venue.”

This will be the highest-profile event at the Obama Center — and the first involving a professional sports league — since the Jackson Park campus opened June 19. But Wednesday’s announcement also highlights an ongoing concern for the Chicago Sky: the unavailability of the team’s new training facility in Bedford Park, which remains unfinished.

When Chicago originally made its bid to host the 2026 All-Star Game, Sky co-owner and operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson cited the Bedford Park facility as a key piece of the pitch. The facility was slated to host community events such as Jr. WNBA Day — cornerstone pieces of any NBA or WNBA All-Star weekend — but significant delays in the facility’s completion appear to have precluded it from hosting events.

The lack of availability for All-Star weekend is a minor setback for the Sky, especially with a willing host like the Obama Center waiting in the wings. But the unwieldy timeline of the training facility’s completion has begun to erode trust from the latest iteration of the Sky roster.

Last fall, Rawlinson and Sky leadership continued to say the facility would be ready for the start of the 2026 season. Per a source, free agents were told repeatedly that the facility would be operational and available to players — albeit with some final touches needed — by the end of training camp. Those promises never came true.

The Sky held training camp and early season practices at the University of Illinois Chicago, which provided them with high-level recovery resources and a consistent working location. But that agreement ran out at the end of May, forcing the Sky to piece together practice locations at Loyola University and Wintrust Arena, dependent on rental availability.

Players have spent the last month-plus without consistent access to courts, recovery resources or private storage for their gear.

Veteran guard Skylar Diggins told media Monday in Phoenix that she felt misled about the Sky’s lack of resources and that the team doesn’t have “everything that we need to be successful.” Diggins noted a lack of regular access to resources such as a cold tub, sauna, massage therapist and IV treatment, which were major points in the collective bargaining agreement players fought for over the last two years.

In that same media availability, Diggins suggested a lack of desire to keep “sacrificing” for the Sky “without having the proper resources to play at an elite level.” She sat out Tuesday night’s game against the Phoenix Mercury as a late scratch with a knee injury.

The Sky, which had no players selected for the All-Star Game, improved to 7-14 with a 77-66 victory Tuesday.

The Sky hasn’t determined whether the Bedford Park facility will be prepared to host practices in the final week of the regular season before All-Star weekend. And it’s unclear when the team will be allowed to occupy the facility, as Sky officials continue to decline to provide a move-in date.