The Chicago Blackhawks are entering a new era. Chicago is going into the future with future superstar Connor Bedard and Danny Wirtz as owner and CEO after the passing of his late father Rocky in 2023. The organization has found itself in some hot water as a result of a lawsuit filed by a former American Indian consultant.
Nina Sanders filed a civil action late Tuesday in Cook County Circuit Court. The lawsuit accuses the team, its charity foundation, and its CEO of fraud, breach of contract and sexual harassment.
Sanders was hired by the team as a consultant in 2020 to improve relationships with American Indian tribes — most notably the Black Hawk’s tribe, the Sac and Fox Nation. She had previously spent a decade lecturing and advising at organizations including Chicago’s Field Museum and the Smithsonian’s American Indian Museum.
The lawsuit alleges that Wirtz promised a number of changes that he never delivered on. These include creating positions for American Indians, changing the team’s logo, and buying land that would be given to the Sac and Fox Nation.
Sanders also alleges that she was sexually harassed in 2022 by a man working for the organization. The man in question allegedly made inappropriate sexual advances, touched her without her consent, and sent her explicit videos oh himself via Snapchat.
The lawsuit said that Sanders verbally reported two other incidents of women being groped at Blackhawks events by men associated with the organization. Allegedly Sanders made formal complaints to her supervisor, but the lawsuit said nothing was and alleges the team attempted to silence her by changing her role and moving her out of the United Center.
Sanders, Blackhawks response to the lawsuit
Sanders said she felt used by the organization, according to CBS.
“I opened doors for the Blackhawks because people wouldn’t work with them,” said Sanders.
Sanders also suggests that the team leveraged her trust in Native American communities to gain a better standing with the Sac and Fox Nation.
“I built relationships with my own trusted native colleagues,” she continued, “and once they figured out how to do it, they pushed me out.”
Sanders no long works with the organization.
The Blackhawks were reportedly warned the lawsuit was coming. Sanders’ lawyers sent a letter to the team’s legal representation in July 2023 saying they planned to sue.
According to Rick Westhead of CBS, the Blackhawks claimed that the organization hired an outside investigator to examine this lawsuit’s allegations. That investigation is said to have found insufficient evidence to substantiate the claims.
West also said that the Blackhawks also claimed that the people identified by Sanders in connection with her sexual harassment allegations “are not, and have never been, independent contractors with nor employees of the Chicago Blackhawks.”
The Blackhawks also provided several lengthy statements in response to CBS’s reporting on the story. The response addressed a number of topics related to the story. These include a doubling-down on the Blackhawks’ commitment to the Native American community, a statement regarding Sanders’ contract with the team, and a response to the sexual harassment allegations.
