{"id":441662,"date":"2026-01-31T22:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441662\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T22:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T22:43:08","slug":"owner-michael-alter-being-sued-by-minority-partner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/441662\/","title":{"rendered":"Owner Michael Alter being sued by minority partner"},"content":{"rendered":"

A minority partner in the Chicago Sky is suing longtime principal owner Michael Alter, alleging he violated his fiduciary duty to investors by misallocating and misrepresenting franchise value for his own benefit, according to a lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court this week.<\/p>\n

Minority owner Steven Rogers, an Englewood native and entrepreneur who was an early investor in the team, alleges in the suit that Alter abused his financial control of the Sky\u2019s operations to \u201cself-deal\u201d stakes to boost his own shares while decreasing those of minority partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlter\u2019s actions breached his fiduciary duty to the minority investors \u2026 and unfairly deprived them of the value of their investments,\u201d the lawsuit said.<\/p>\n

The complaint was filed Wednesday, and an initial hearing is scheduled for Thursday. Alter and the Sky declined to comment on ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n

The suit stems from a dispute over ownership and stake valuation that began in September 2022. Shortly after the Sky won their first WNBA championship in 2021, the lawsuit alleges that \u201cAlter orchestrated a series of transactions to claim a significant portion of the Chicago Sky valuation gains for himself\u201d and then \u201cused his position as the sole manager \u2014 with nearly complete control over the Chicago Sky finances and corporate entities \u2014 to seize what has quickly become over [redacted] million in value at the expense of other investors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit claims that Alter seized a majority stake \u201cwith no lawful basis and at an unfair price and at the expense of the other investors,\u201d a decision that put his \u201cown interests ahead of the team and other investors.\u201d According to the lawsuit, Alter has declined to appoint a board of directors or advisers and runs the team \u201cas his private concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September 2022, the suit alleges that Alter claimed the stakes of Rogers and other minority investors had \u201cdropped in nominal value, even as the team value had increased.\u201d Alter eventually went back on this initial valuation and offered a significantly higher value, but Rogers still feels the majority owner has stiffed minority stakeholders of significant value as the Sky\u2019s popularity and revenue continue to build.<\/p>\n

Alter brought the Sky into the WNBA in 2006, doling out a reported $10 million expansion fee with an investment group that included other investors such as then-team President and Chair Margaret Stender. The team has never publicized the full roster of minority owners from those early years of the team, but initial investors included Rogers in addition to prominent locals such as Michelle Williams.<\/p>\n

The Sky sought new investment in 2023 when the financial realities of competing in the WNBA began to rapidly evolve. Operating chair Nadia Rawlinson<\/a> bought into the team as a minority owner when she was hired in January 2023. Later that summer, the Sky welcomed a new group of investors<\/a> who bought a collective 10% stake in the team, earning a new valuation at $85 million. That group \u2014 which included Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts and former NBA superstar Dwyane Wade<\/a> \u2014 is not included in Rogers\u2019 suit.<\/p>\n

In December 2025<\/a>, Forbes valued the Sky at $240 million, seventh among WNBA franchises and 12th among women\u2019s sports teams worldwide.<\/p>\n

\"ChicagoSky principal owner Michael Alter, left, speaks with co-owner and operating chairman Nadia Rawlinson during a game on Aug. 7, 2025, at Wintrust Arena. (Eileen T. Meslar\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

The cost of WNBA stewardship skyrocketed in the 20 years since Alter first bought the Sky. Expansion fees ballooned from $10 million in 2006 to a record $250 million each for the three newest franchises \u2014 in Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia \u2014 set to join the league by 2030. While billionaires buy into the league, Alter has struggled to keep pace in basic necessities such as player facilities and operational staffing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Significant swaths of the initial claim are redacted in public copies of the filing, making it difficult to piece together the entire scope of Rogers\u2019 claims against Alter \u2014 but the claim captures frustration about Alter\u2019s ownership and operation of the Sky that echoes the complaints of former and current players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Chicago Sky basketball team has had some success on the court, as a business, Alter\u2019s operation has been a mess,\u201d the suit reads. \u201cThroughout his tenure, Alter flouted the agreement\u2019s basic requirements and minimal standards for business operations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A minority partner in the Chicago Sky is suing longtime principal owner Michael Alter, alleging he violated his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[438,38388,208087,2932,55263,99,434,93203,208086],"class_list":{"0":"post-441662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-chicago-sky","9":"tag-dwyane-wade","10":"tag-laura-ricketts","11":"tag-lawsuit","12":"tag-michael-alter","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-wnba","15":"tag-wnba-expansion","16":"tag-wnba-valuation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}