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Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler stands next to midfielder Vanessa Dibernardo who was celebrating her 100th NWSL appearance in 2019. | Daniel Bartel/ISIPhotos.com
The announcement comes on the heels of a number of newly named celebrity investors in NWSL teams.
The Red Stars introduced a new, diverse investor group Monday morning headlined by Olympic gold medalist and Blackhawks development coach Kendall Coyne Schofield and former Bears defensive end Israel Idonije.
The announcement comes on the heels of a number of newly named celebrity investors in NWSL teams. The Red Stars’ 14 new investors include industry leaders in entertainment, technology and business with ties to Chicago. Their goal is to continue developing a world-class environment reflective of the athletes playing for the Red Stars.
For Coyne Schofield and her husband, NFL unrestricted free agent Michael Schofield, their investment is deeply personal.
As a member of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, which just embarked on its second Dream Gap Tour, Coyne Schofield is all too familiar with the lack of investment in women’s sports. Her involvement — like her career as a player, a broadcaster and a development coach — is to show women what’s possible.
Annie Costabile/Sun-TimesKendall Coyne Schofield addresses a group of young athletes before they break up into different groups at the PWHPA’s youth clinic at the United Center in 2019.
“As two professional athletes ourselves, we’ve had two very different experiences in the professional sports world,” Coyne Schofield said. “Our involvement is beyond capital. It’s about bringing awareness to the disparity between men’s and women’s professional sports.”
“Kendall is one of the hardest working athletes I know,” Schofield said. “Women’s sports don’t get the respect they deserve. By us investing in it, we hope that it helps grow the women’s game. And when I say the women’s game, I mean all of them.”
Coyne Schofield jokes that even though her life revolves around women’s sports and advocating for the sustainability of women’s professional sports leagues, women’s hockey more specifically, her husband might be the biggest women’s sports fan in their household.
Regardless, they’re hoping their investment will inspire others to invest in women’s sports when they see the difference it makes.
Before making their final decision, Coyne Schofield said she was fortunate to have a conversation with another investor, award-winning journalist Sarah Spain. When she learned Spain was on board, along with other investors such as music executive Colleen Mares and entrepreneur Marie Tillman, it reinforced the reasons she wanted to be involved.
The Red Stars are the latest NWSL franchise to announce the addition of high-profile investors. In January, four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka joined the back-to-back championship-winning North Carolina Courage. After the news broke, founding and majority Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler texted the Sun-Times that the Red Stars spoke to the tennis star, too.
Most recently, the Washington Spirit introduced a group of more than 30 new investors, Chelsea Clinton and Jenna Bush Hager among them.
Angel City FC, a 2022 expansion team, helped create this ripple effect with a jaw-dropping ownership group. The team’s dozens of investors include 23-time tennis Grand Slam champion Serena Williams and actress Natalie Portman.
Spain said she felt inspired by colleague and two-time World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Julie Foudy’s ownership stake in Angel City FC. It didn’t occur to her that the Red Stars might be expanding their ownership group or that she would be approached by Whisler. She just knew she wanted to be an owner.
“At the ESPNW Summit, one of my panels was with Abby Wambach and Glennon Doyle,” Spain said. “Abby talked in her book about if they don’t give you a seat at the table, screw pulling up a chair and build a new table. I think I kind of joked with [Julie] Foudy and Glennon and Abby, saying, ‘Well, I’m going to be an owner.’ ”
Spain began earnest conversations with Whisler in October. When she brought the idea to her financial advisor, she was told, “This is a perfect fit for you.”
When Whisler originally set out to expand the Red Stars’ capital base, he did it with a few goals in mind. He wanted to reflect the diversity of the organization’s fan base in its owners, to be able to attract global soccer stars and to secure the future success of the organization.
The list of owners, which the team said is still developing:
At least 27 people were shot, 5 fatally, between 5 p.m. Feb. 26, 2021, and 5 a.m. March 1, 2021, across Chicago. | Sun-Times file photo
A 16-year-old boy was killed in a shooting Friday night in the 6300 block of South Richmond Street.
Five people were killed and 22 others wounded in shootings across Chicago this weekend, including a 16-year-old boy who was gunned down while visiting a friend in Marquette Park.
He was visiting a friend about 8:45 p.m. Friday when two men started arguing with him inside an apartment in the 6300 block of South Richmond Street, Chicago police said.
The men began hitting the boy, but he was able to escape the apartment and fled down the street, police said. The men chased him and fired shots as they ran, striking him several times throughout the body.
The boy was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead, police said. He was identified as Julian Castillo by the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Jesus Moro, 21, and Sergio Rodgriguez, 20, are facing murder charges in connection with the shooting.
In other deadly attacks, a person was killed in a shooting Sunday in Austin on the West Side.
About 11:10 a.m., a male was in the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue when someone opened fire, striking him in the head, police said. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he was pronounced dead.
They were outside about 12:20 a.m. in the first block of West 91st Street when a group of males approached and fired shots after an argument, police said. One man suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the back and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The other man, 29, suffered a gunshot wound to the torso and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition, according to police and Chicago fire officials.
On Saturday, a 32-year-old man was fatally shot in Brainerd on the South Side.
The man was found unresponsive about 3:55 a.m. in front of a home in the 9100 block of South Emerald Avenue, police said. He was transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead.
Friday night, a 32-year-old man died after being shot at a gas station in Roseland on the South Side.
The man was sitting inside a vehicle about 9:55 p.m. at a gas station in the first block of West 111th Street when someone in a white sedan pulled up and fired shots, police said.
He suffered a gunshot wound to the head and a passenger drove him to Roseland Hospital, police said. He was transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead.
In nonfatal shootings, a 15-year-old boy was wounded Friday night in Back of the Yards.
He was walking about 11:30 p.m. in the 5400 block of South Loomis Boulevard when he heard shots and felt pain, police said. He suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to Comer Children’s Hospital in serious to critical condition, according to police and Chicago fire officials.
At least 20 other people were wounded in shootings between 5 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday.
The ChicagoBlackhawks defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a final score of 7-2 and that isn’t even close to being the big story of the game. Patrick Kane scored the 400th goal of his Hall of Fame legendary career. It was a brilliant toe drag and snipe for as pretty of a goal as […]
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