Lightfoot Sees Gender Bias In Lack Of Media Love For Chicago Sky

CHICAGO — Chicago Sky coach James Wade said recently that he knows Chicago loves a winner. But in the case of a WNBA team headed to league’s championship series, the question becomes, will its hometown love this winner?

If the answer is no, Chicago's mayor has a hypothesis why: Because women are doing the winning.

This blue-collar working city has always appreciated grit and determination. But in the same way others have achieved a measure of success by fighting for everything they are worth, the Sky’s efforts to not only stave off elimination twice but also to relish their role as underdogs has gone greatly unnoticed.

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Even with the homecoming of Naperville native and former WNBA MVP Candace Parker, the Sky have managed to fly either below — or off — the radar of a lot of fans and the media that cover the nation's third-largest market.

In a talk radio landscape dominated by who is starting at quarterback for the Bears, whether a 77-year-old manager can lead the White Sox to a World Series title and whether an off-season full of wheeling and dealing can bring the Bulls back to the playoffs, the Sky don’t get much airtime.

Meanwhile, the Sky haven’t drawn much print attention other than from the Sun-Times, which is the only outlet in town that has a dedicated beat writer covering the Sky.

Outside of that, one of the WNBA's hottest teams seems to come up short when it comes to words written about its players.

But that coverage comes with a price. The Sun-Times announced in 2019 that its Sky coverage was being sponsored by University of Chicago Medicine. If that sponsorship sounds familiar, it’s became it is the same UC Medicine which appears on the front of the jerseys the Sky players wear during the season. But hey, at least one paper is trying to give the Sky some love.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot is frustrated by the lack of ink or air the Sky seem to attract even though they are one victory away from reaching the WNBA Finals. The Sky — who also include All-Stars like Courtney Vandersloot, an Olympic gold medalist in Stefanie Dolson and an All-Rookie team selection in Dana Evans — have plenty of name notoriety to those in the know.

That’s not even considering the presence of Parker, whose jersey ranks No. 6 among all WNBA players and who was given her own day in the city following a proclamation by Lightfoot before the playoffs began.

Yet, for all of that, Lightfoot swears something doesn’t smell right by the coverage — or lack thereof — surrounding a championship-caliber team that is one game away of dispatching the top seed in the WNBA playoffs, with games having been played this week at the downtown Wintrust Arena.

"The lack of media coverage of the Chicago Sky is yet another frustrating example of gender bias in the sports world,” Lightfoot told Patch on Wednesday, before the team clinched its appearance in the WNBA Finals.

“The simple reality is this: If this was a men's team in the playoffs, there is no way there would only be one full-time Chicago Sky beat reporter present. The Chicago Sky being on the cusp of making it to the finals, following a number of significant wins, should be a big Chicago story —not mere paragraphs relegated to the interior of sports pages."

The Mayor continued: “Behind every great sports story is the energy and enthusiasm of fans. By not properly covering the successes of teams like the Chicago Sky, we are not only letting the team down, but every fan that supports them."

Granted, media outlets are limited by operating budgets, advertising constraints and people. They can be overwhelmed by other city issues, such as the violence and political corruption that have gripped the city’s headlines and newscasts for years.

But in a league that already experiences a great disparity from other professional sports leagues that pay their players handsomely and are inundated by round-the-clock, wall-to-wall coverage, the WNBA lags behind. That’s no fault of the players, who are subject to lower pay and to flying commercial rather than in private team jets emblazoned with team logos.

And in a city that loves a winner and where the Sky’s coach (who also doubles as the general manager) wants for his players to be embraced for their efforts, winning — or losing for that matter — that doesn’t seem to be noticed by much of anyone.

Maybe it’s time for that to change, and not just because a mayor with bigger fish to fry than the success of a Chicago professional sports franchise says so.

You never know — the championship parade that could be coming might just be something extra special in this city.