The long limbo for the Chicago Red Stars has finally ended — and in a fitting fashion. The team won its first match under new ownership, led by Laura Ricketts, with a 2-0 win over the Washington Spirit last weekend following the official closing of the sale on September 1.
Before former majority owner Arnim Whisler had even announced his intent to sell the NWSL team in December, Ricketts was already expecting the Red Stars to go on the market. Last October, Red Stars players collectively issued a statement asking for the team’s board to “(find) a new majority owner.”
“Looking at it, just given my experience, having been an owner and operator of the (Chicago) Cubs for the last 13 or so years, and just everything that I’ve learned, all the expertise that I can leverage to put towards this really distressed asset,” Laura Ricketts told The Athletic ahead of the closing of the team’s sale. “(I) started thinking about, ‘Okay, maybe this is something that really makes sense.’”
That players’ open letter, sent in the immediate aftermath of the release of the Sally Yates report, following her investigation into misconduct across the NWSL, made clear at the time that there was no path forward for the Red Stars as they existed under Whisler. The players said the…
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