The Chicago Sky’s new training facility in Bedford Park will not be ready for the start of the season — but the team will not return to Sachs Recreation Center.
The Sky will hold training camp and all other team workouts at an undisclosed location within the city limits of Chicago while the training facility is being finished, per a team source. This will provide more private accommodations and a significantly shorter commute for players, who also are being housed downtown this season.
Sachs Recreation Center served as the home for the Sky for years, hosting the team in semi-private spaces in a public recreation center in Deerfield. Sky players shared accommodations such as locker rooms with the public at Sachs, an imposition that many former players have criticized. The recreation center is located in the north suburbs, nearly 30 miles from Wintrust Arena, a drive that can balloon to well more than 80 minutes for players making the hike from nearby team housing.
Photos: How construction on the Chicago Sky’s new training facility is progressing
The Sky have not provided a timeline for the completion of the Bedford Park facility, which originally was planned to open in December.
“I am confident that it will be done before the season next year,” Sky co-owner and operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson said at a September news conference providing updates on the progress of the facility.
In February, Sky President and CEO Adam Fox said in a statement that the team expected the practice facility to be “operational by late spring” citing difficulties caused by a “harsh winter” for delays to the original date. The area also experienced significant flooding and severe storms last summer, with a wind storm knocking out three wall panels at the facility.
In addition to weather, construction was delayed significantly because of additions made to increase the overall footprint of the facility. The Sky will not own the new facility — which is a public-private partnership made with the Village of Bedford Park — but players will have exclusive access to their portion of the new build.
WNBA training camps are set to open April 19. The Sky will play their first game May 9 on the road against the Portland Fire, one of two new expansion teams with the Toronto Tempo.