On a recent weekday evening at this northeast Portland bar, fans drank pints and burgers while women’s lacrosse and beach volleyball matches played on big-screen TVs. The walls were decorated with autographed memorabilia from female athletes, and a chalkboard above the beer menu featured a painting of college football legend Abby Wambach.
Sports bra is a pub that celebrates women’s sport and is the only thing on TV.
The packed and bustling bar has successfully capitalized on the explosion of interest in women’s sports, most recently epitomized by the frenzy over the University of Iowa basketball phenom. Caitlin Clarkfeats that break records.
Just two years after opening, the bar announced plans this week to expand nationwide through a franchise model.
“Everything happened at lightning speed compared to what I predicted,” founder and CEO Jenny Nguyen told The Associated Press. “This tiny place I built for myself and my friends to watch games and give athletes flowers means so much more. And not only for me, but for many people.”
Under the plan, bars and entrepreneurs in other countries will be able to apply to use The Sports Bra brand in their franchises. Nguyen is open to working with people who already have a physical location, as well as those who just have a business plan. What’s important, she says, is that potential future partners share The Sports Bra’s values.
One promising partner is Jackie Rio, who hopes to open a franchise in Cincinnati, where she works as CEO of a media and marketing agency. During an interview at The Sports Bra, where she was enjoying watching her college’s women’s lacrosse team on one of the televisions, she said such establishments “celebrate women’s sports and the champions and athletes behind the story.”
“It’s great to see it grow and gain so much popularity,” Reau said of the bar. “This is such a moment for women’s sports.”
The expansion will be facilitated by funding from a fund created by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is married to tennis legend Serena Williams. Nguyen said she has already received hundreds of requests.
Interest in women’s sports is at an all-time high, fueled by Clarke’s exploits this year in which she broke the all-time NCAA scoring records for women and men. The championship game between Iowa and South Carolina on April 7 ended in a draw. Average 18.9 million viewerssurpassing the crowd for the first time in a men’s title match.
A week later, a record 2.45 million viewers averaged the WNBA Draft to watch Clark head to the Indiana Fever as #1 choice. It was reported this week that she was set to sign $28 million deal with Nike it would be the richest sponsorship deal for a women’s basketball player.
There is a growing interest not only in women’s basketball, but also in other sports. 2023 Women’s World Cup reported record attendance of nearly 2 million fans. A University of Nebraska volleyball game played at the football stadium last August drew more than 92,000 people. World record for the largest attendance at a women’s sporting event.
“It’s kind of a peak moment where there are a lot of eyeballs,” said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon. “It’s just a lot of things coming together to create this incredible moment for women’s sports that feels like more than just a flash in the pan.”
As fan numbers and engagement grow, so does the desire to change the sports bar culture that has traditionally catered to men’s athletics. Other establishments, like The Sports Bra, have recently opened in other locations, with their own bar opening in Minneapolis earlier this year and Rough & Tumble opening in Seattle in late 2022.
Sports bars haven’t always been desirable places for women, Nguyen said. A fan since childhood, she gathered groups of friends because she didn’t feel safe going alone. She recalled encountering macho environments in which she felt uncomfortable and bartenders who refused to change the channel to a women’s game.
“This is exactly what we settled on,” she said. “When I wanted to step back and kind of upend the status quo, that’s when I really started to dig into what a sports bra could mean and change the narrative of sports bars.”
One memory in particular stood out to Nguyen from her time as owner: Serena Williams’ last match in 2022. A huge crowd came to watch, spilling onto the sidewalk. People outside covered their eyes with their hands, peering through the windows to see the screens.
“When Serena scored the point, I swear to God, I thought the glass was going to break. My head was shaking,” Nguyen said. “And then when they volleyed, I felt like I could hear a hamburger flipping in the kitchen.”
Towards the end, she felt tears welling up. She handed out two boxes of tissues to similarly tearful customers as everyone enjoyed Williams’ final moments on set.
“I remember taking a deep breath and thinking, ‘I don’t know if there’s any place on the planet that is experiencing this exact moment,’” Nguyen said. “It was amazing.”
According to Tarlan Chakhardovali, assistant professor of sports and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina, it remains difficult for fans to watch women’s sports games because many are not televised and require other streaming subscriptions.
Women’s sports bars can be reliable venues for many events if they have one. But more broadly, Chakhardovali said, there is still a lot to be done to ensure that the media market does not undervalue women’s sports.
“Today’s numbers are hard to ignore and I think it’s a very exciting time,” she said. “But this is a moment that needs to be sustained and maintained, and it requires ongoing investment.”