Venue: Wintrust Arena
Address: 200 E Cermak Road
Town: Chicago, US
Capacity: 10,387

Wintrust Arena at McCormick Square, previously referred to as DePaul Arena or McCormick Place Events Center, is a 10,387-seat sports venue in the Near South Side community area of Chicago that opened in 2017. It is the current home court for the men's and women's basketball teams of DePaul University and serves as an events center for McCormick Place. It also is the home of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The arena was announced in May 2013, with construction planned to begin in 2014, and use expected to begin with the 2016-17 season. The start of construction was delayed to November 2015, with completion delayed until the 2017-18 season. Although DePaul had been seeking a new home arena-it had used Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont since 1980-it rejected a 10-year offer in November 2012 to play rent free at the United Center. Instead, DePaul planned to use Allstate Arena on a recurring one-year basis until it had a new home. On November 16, 2016, DePaul and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA or "McPier") announced that the new event center at McCormick Square would be called Wintrust Arena. The announcement came after the signing of a letter of intent that contemplated a definitive 15-year sponsorship agreement between DePaul and Wintrust. At the outset there were two different interpretations of the planned venue. ESPN has interpreted the plan as a 10,000-seat arena with a cost to tax payers of $103 million and total cost of $175 million. The Chicago Sun-Times has interpreted the plan as a 12,000-seat arena with public funding of $125 million out of a total spend $300 million. Before the actual announcement, the arena was publicized by the Chicago Sun-Times as a 12,000-seat arena that would cost $300 million. After the announcement, the Chicago Sun-Times reported an expected 12,000-seat venue, but with $125 million coming from public funds. Upon announcement, ESPN reported the expected cost of the 10,000-s