Representatives from the Chicago Sky and the NWSL's Chicago Stars, among others, testified in a Monday hearing with the Illinois House of Representatives Revenue and Finance Committee, according to an article from the Chicago Tribune's Meghan Montemurro and Olivia Olander.
Sky center Elizabeth Williams was one of many who testified in Monday's hearing. She was joined by now-Stars president Karen Leetzow, who was appointed to be the team's president last year after her time as the Chief Legal Officer of the U.S. Soccer Federation, along with Sky co-owner Nadia Rawlinson. They testified on Monday regarding House Bill 5841, which provides key amendments that ensure equality in state facility funding for men's and women's sports.
Williams finished last season with 10 points and seven rebounds per contest in her nine games played and as many starts with the Sky. She signed with Chicago in 2023, where she would prove her worth on the defensive end with a team-leading 1.5 blocks per game and a spot on the All-Defensive Second team. The 6-foot-3 center put on a defensive showcase when she logged five steals and five blocks in a May win over the Dallas Wings. She would sign a contract extension with Chicago earlier this year, keeping the veteran center on a blossoming Sky roster through the 2025 season.
Williams has proven to be a leading voice for the Sky in the past, including in the push for chartered flights in 2023.
A defensive stalwart with an All-Defensive First Team selection, Williams was previously in attendance for a preliminary WNBA Collective Bargaining Agreement meeting last week. The former Duke big currently serves as a Secretary for the Women's National Basketball Players Association. She has played a key role as a mentor and a leader for the Sky this past season, which will be more than crucial in building up the team's budding bigs of the future in center Kamilla Cardoso and forward Angel Reese. Williams is pursuing her master's degree in global health from Arizona State University as she continues to build her education in medicine, according to Marquee Sports Network. She had issued a statement during the groundbreaking of the Sky's new practice facility, which is set to be completed by late 2025.
Guard Courtney Williams, now a member of the Minnesota Lynx, has spoken highly of the former top-five selection's ability to be a "staple" for not only the Sky, but the league as a whole.
“I tell her all the time, ‘When you talk, people listen,’" Courtney Williams said in a 2023 conference, via Chicago Sun-Times Sky reporter Annie Costabile. “There are a lot of things this league could do better. We just have to keep moving in the right direction.
"So, whatever she says, I stand with her.”