Women’s Sports Bars Are Set to Quadruple This Year, and They’re Changing Sports Culture With It
Picture this: You’re craving wings, you want to cheer for your team, and you’re ready to yell at the ref. But instead of being surrounded by flat screens playing men’s games on mute, you’re watching WNBA, NCAA women’s volleyball, or the Women’s World Cup at full volume. The drinks are female-distilled. The crowd is diverse. And the vibe? Safe, hype, and actually welcoming.
That’s exactly what Jenny Nguyen envisioned when she opened The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, back in 2022. Just two years later, women’s sports bars are the fastest-growing concept in the hospitality world. And they’re rewriting who gets to be a sports fan in public.
According to NBC News, the number of women’s sports bars in the U.S. is expected to quadruple this year, from six at the start of 2025 to around two dozen by December. That includes new openings from Omaha to Austin, and from Long Beach to Kansas City.
The Sports Bra changed the game, for real
When Jenny Nguyen opened The Sports Bra, she kicked off a whole movement. “If we can get one kid in here that could feel represented and feel like there’s a future for them in sports… it would be worth it,” she told The 19th. Her Portland bar hit $1 million in revenue just eight months after opening, per Eater.
Now, The Sports Bra is preparing to franchise nationwide with support from Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, who is also married to Serena Williams. However, according to them, Nguyen is being very selective about who gets to open a franchise, making sure that each location is 100% dedicated to women’s sports and fandom.
That level of care has made The Sports Bra more than a bar. It’s a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community, families with kids, and lifelong women’s sports fans who’ve never had a place to watch their teams without being asked to “change the channel.”
Women’s Sports Bars are booming as viewership breaks records
This rise didn’t come out of nowhere. Women’s sports are having a moment. Several, actually. In 2023, more than 92,000 fans filled Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium to watch the Huskers volleyball team, setting a world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event, NBC News reported.
Meanwhile, the NCAA women’s basketball championship between South Carolina and Iowa became the most-watched basketball game (college or pro, men’s or women’s) since 2019. That same year, the WNBA had its most-watched season in over two decades. Caitlin Clark’s transition to the Indiana Fever only added to the hype, drawing millions to ESPN’s opening weekend broadcasts in 2024.
According to Them, The Sports Bra was the only place outside of New York where fans gathered en masse to watch Serena Williams’ final match at the U.S. Open. “When Serena would score a point, it felt like the glass was gonna break,” Nguyen said.
These bars are reclaiming sports culture, one city at a time
From the jump, Jenny Nguyen made it clear: “We are a bar for women’s sports, not a sports bar for women.” That distinction has resonated. Jen Barnes, founder of Rough & Tumble in Seattle, echoed that intention when she told Eater that her pub was built to prioritize women’s games, featuring 18 screens worth of them.
Barnes saw firsthand the significant demand that existed. During the 2023 NWSL playoffs, so many fans showed up that when Rough & Tumble hit capacity, people filled up other nearby venues. By the end of the night, over 40 separate bars in Seattle were hosting women’s sports watch parties.
According to Vogue, what’s happening in Seattle and Portland is no longer the exception. It’s the blueprint.
Inside Women’s Sports Bars: community, cocktails, and Caitlin Clark
Walk into Watch Me! in Long Beach and you’ll find a bar built by and for women’s sports fans. Owner Jax Diener told NBC News that she opened it with her wife, Emme, after decades of feeling out of place in traditional bars. “We left every Sunday feeling like we weren’t smart enough… like we didn’t belong.”
So she changed that. Today, Watch Me! partners with Angel City F.C. and the LA Sparks, hosts trivia nights and podcast tapings, and serves baseball-themed brunch sandwiches like “In the Mitt.” Oh, and it’s pet-friendly.
In Denver, The 99ers Sports Bar (named after the iconic 1999 USWNT) is run by two women who work full-time jobs by day and bartend at night. They opened their doors in December and already have standing-room-only nights during WNBA and PWHL games.
Then there’s 1972 in Austin, named after the year Title IX passed. The bar was co-founded by two longtime friends who told Women’s Health they were inspired after visiting Rough & Tumble. “We looked at each other and said, ‘We really need to see if Austin can support a place like this.’”
Spoiler: It can.
The rise of Women’s Sports Bars still faces real challenges
Even as these bars thrive, every single owner NBC News spoke with reported struggling to access traditional business loans. Many used their retirement savings, crowdfunded thousands of dollars, and leaned on community support to open.
But perhaps the most frustrating issue is coverage. Kat Moore, co-owner of Title 9 in Phoenix, told Women’s Health that even with 18 streaming platforms and event-specific subscriptions, she still can’t access all the games she wants to show. “There is still not enough women’s sports on TV.”
Jen Barnes from Rough & Tumble agreed: “You need a master’s degree in streaming services to be able to be a women’s sports fan.”
These bars are for everyone, just like women’s sports
Most women’s sports bar owners identify as LGBTQ+, but their spaces are intentionally inclusive. According to Eater, Jillian Hiscock at A Bar of Their Own in Minneapolis made sure every tap was from a woman, trans, or nonbinary-owned brewery. The food is vegan and gluten-free friendly. Kids are welcome. And the walls are filled with women’s sports memorabilia from floor to ceiling.
That inclusivity extends beyond identity, however. It includes fans of all genders who are tired of being an afterthought.
As Hiscock put it in an interview with The 19th, “We’re doing our best to highlight these women athletes, and so we’re creating our own spaces. We’re creating places that we’ve wanted to exist, that didn’t exist without us.”
Why Women’s Sports Bars matter more than ever
Women’s sports still receive just 15 percent of all sports coverage, according to data cited by The 19th. Top WNBA players earn less than 1 percent of what male NBA rookies make. Many fans still have nowhere to watch a game with sound, let alone a crowd.
That’s why these bars matter.
As WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart said to Vogue, “When we have more viewers, it gains attention. The excuse of not being able to watch isn’t going to be an excuse anymore.”
Jenny Nguyen’s vision is no longer just a dream in Portland. It’s a reality across the U.S., with more coming every month. “This is just getting started,” Jackie Diener told NBC News. “We need more of these. We need them all over the United States.”
And we will.
