JOSH PEHLKE remembers having to beg and plead at bars and restaurants to get them to show WNBA games just a few years ago. Too often, the answer was a flat-out no.

These days, he doesn’t have to worry as much.

As the general manager at Signature Bar & Restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, about a three-point shot from the Chicago Sky’s home at Wintrust Arena, he has some say. But even when he's not at work, he has noticed a difference.