After being referred to as both DePaul Arena and McCormick Place Events Center, MPEA and DePaul announced a 15-year naming rights agreement for the complex with Wintrust Financial under the name Wintrust Arena on November 16, 2016.
On July 25, 2017, MPEA announced that it had reached a five-year agreement with the Chicago Sky to play their home games at the arena starting with all 17 home games for the 2018 WNBA season after having played the previous eight seasons at Allstate Arena.
The arena's first event was a concert by REO Speedwagon on September 25 that was reserved for attendees of the annual convention of the True Value hardware company.
The opening ceremony was held on October 14, 2017, with the event also featuring the season-opening practices for the 2017–18 DePaul men's and women's teams.
The first major public event (a concert featuring Bob Dylan and Mavis Staples) took place on October 27.
By that time, the arena had been announced as the host of the Big East Women's Basketball Tournament for 2018–2020.