It is the current home court for the men's and women's basketball teams of DePaul University and serves as an events center for McCormick Place.

Although DePaul had been seeking a new home arena—it had used Allstate Arena in suburban Rosemont since 1980—it rejected a 10-year offer in November 2012 to play rent free at the United Center.

[8] On November 16, 2016, DePaul and the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA or "McPier") announced that the new event center at McCormick Square would be called Wintrust Arena.

[11] Upon announcement, ESPN reported the expected cost of the 10,000-seat arena, located on Cermak Road between Indiana and Prairie Avenue, across the street from McCormick Place was $173 million.

[16] On November 16, 2015, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, officials from DePaul University and McCormick Place attended the ceremonial groundbreaking for the center.

[2] 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.

[23] 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.

[30] In October 2021, Wintrust Arena hosted Games 3 and 4 of the WNBA Finals, during which the Chicago Sky defeated the Phoenix Mercury to capture the team's first championship.

[34][35][36][37] On February 5, 2022, the arena hosted a high school basketball game between two of the top-ranked teams in the country, #14 Sierra Canyon from Chatsworth, California (21-3) and #19 Glenbard West from Glen Ellyn, Illinois (26-0).