Sky make changes to ownership group

The Sky are expected to announce the addition of businesswoman Nadia Rawlinson to their ownership group Friday, and the timing shouldn’t be viewed as a coincidence.

The league is in the middle of one of its most explosive free-agency periods, with players such as Candace Parker, Courtney Vandersloot and Breanna Stewart on the market. Those three players specifically have drawn strong interest from some of the league’s top franchises.

Vandersloot and Stewart have been linked to the New York Liberty, a franchise owned by Brooklyn Nets owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai. Since buying the franchise in 2019, they’ve promised the same investment in the Liberty as the Nets. Their words have been met with action. The first thing they did after taking over was move the franchise from the Westchester County Center to Barclays Center.

Then there’s Parker, who’s being pursued hard by the deep-pocketed Las Vegas Aces. They will move into an 80,000-square-foot training facility in March just in time for their title-defending season.

The Sky began alerting media outlets Thursday of an impending change to their ownership group. There was speculation that Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts would invest in the franchise for months, although sources indicated that she wouldn’t be the name announced Friday.

A change to the franchise’s website confirmed Rawlinson as the Sky’s newest owner.

An experienced Silicon Valley executive and member of Stanford’s board of trustees, Rawlinson also will serve as the Sky’s operating chairman, according to the team’s website.

When Michael Alter established the Sky in 2005, it was the second independent ownership group in the WNBA and the first in an NBA market. During the last 18 years, the franchise has made many worthwhile changes, but it has hung its hat on culture.

Alter credited the Sky’s culture for helping the team sign Parker in 2021 and re-sign Vandersloot year after year. But culture is far from enough to continue to attract the league’s top free agents.

The Sky’s full-season ticket sales grew by more than 175% from 2021 to 2022, partial-season tickets saw a 225% increase and total package sales increased by 118%. While the Sky enjoyed sold-out crowds through their title run, those crowds didn’t fully carry over into the 2022 season.

Other than a banner hanging in the rafters, you’d have no idea that it was a championship franchise. The fan experience, according to some, has felt corporate and lacks the energy and culture that’s reflected in the city.

Multiple players, past and present, have expressed that one change they would love to see is the team plant roots in the city. Instead, it practices at a public recreation center in Deerfield.

Vandersloot and Parker, along with the Sky’s three other unrestricted free agents — Allie Quigley, Emma Meesseman and Azurá Stevens — have yet to announce their plans for next season.

Parker’s decision is imminent, and while the Sky are very much in the running, it doesn’t bode well for them that the Aces are, too.

Adding to the ownership group is a valuable step toward continued franchise improvements that will aid in re-signing star players and attracting future ones.