Chicago Sky moving games from suburbs to new arena in city

The Chicago Sky will leave Rosemont's Allstate Arena to play in a new arena near downtown Chicago for the 2018 season, Chicago officials announced Tuesday.

The WNBA team has played the past eight summer seasons at Allstate Arena in Rosemont. On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority voted to approve an agreement to have the Sky play at Wintrust Arena, the new home of the DePaul Blue Demons, in the South Loop neighborhood, not far from Soldier Field.

The five-year agreement includes the Sky playing all 17 home games at Wintrust Arena along with promotional events. The Sky will receive revenue from tickets, sponsorship sales and merchandise. The authority will receive rent, concessions, parking and ticketing fees.

The more than 10,000-seat arena is scheduled to open in September when DePaul opens its men's and women's seasons.\

The move marks the third home arena for the Sky in its 12-year history. The team played its first four seasons at the UIC Pavillion before moving its home games to Rosemont in 2010. In 2016, the Sky set an average attendance record of 7,009 and had 16,444 in attendance for a game against Los Angeles.

• Associated Press and Chicago Sun-Times contributed.