a sports bar, dedicated solely to women’s competitions, is a great success in Portland

2024-04-29 11:40:03

The first sports bar, or “sports bar” in English, entirely dedicated to women’s sports, was opened in Portland, Oregon, on the west coast of the United States, in 2022. It is called the “Sports Bra “, play on words between bar and “bra”, “bra” in English.

Published on 29/04/2024 13:40

Reading time: 3 min

The bar is so successful that the founder is considering franchising the concept. Illustrative photo (THE GOOD BRIGADE / DIGITAL VISION)

Sports bars are an institution in the United States, more than in France. It must be said that with the multitudes of university or professional teams, in a wide variety of sports that Americans are passionate about, there is plenty of choice to keep you busy from morning to evening. But the screens mainly broadcast men’s sport. Thus saw the light of day, in 2022, “The Sports Bra” in Portland, presented as the first 100% women’s sports bar in the world.

All TVs are tuned to NWSL soccer, WNBA basketball, WTA tennis tournaments. The decoration bears the image of women athletes. The walls are covered with jerseys, pennants, photos, paintings. We find, for example, that of Brandi Chastain who scored the winning shot for the United States at the 1999 World Cup. And then we eat and drink in the same spirit. The owner sources her meat from a ranch in Oregon, run by a woman. The Title IX cocktail is named after a law that prohibits gender discrimination in college.

Everyone is welcome

The woman who launched the establishment is called Jenny Nguyen, a sports fan frustrated by having to watch, in 2018, a match that mattered to her in a corner of a bar and without the sound. She and others were tired of asking the bartender to change the channel. She also told the Associated Press agency that she preferred to go to these bars accompanied, not always feeling safe. Two years ago, to address all these problems, she launched The Sports Bra with her savings. It’s not a bar for women, it’s a bar for women’s sports, she insists. Everyone is welcome. Her bar is doing so well that she is considering franchising the concept, with the assistance of a foundation financed by Alexis Ohanian, the co-founder of the site Reddit and the husband of tennis player Serena Williams. She has already received dozens of calls from interested entrepreneurs across the country.

With the phenomenon Caitlin Clark, there has been a lot of talk about women’s sports recently in the United States. She is a young player from the University of Iowa who broke all university records. She has personality and her rivalry with Angie Reese, another talented player from Lousiana State University, has captivated the public and the media for the past year. The university championship final earlier this month attracted 19 million viewers, better than the boys’ final. It’s a first. Clark will begin his professional career with the Indiana Fever and Nike offered him a $28 million contract. The American market seems more favorable, financially, than many other countries for many athletes. For example, French women come to play in the WNBA, the basketball league, or in the NWSL, the soccer league. The American soccer team, quadruple world champion, quadruple Olympic champion, fills the stadiums. But the balance remains fragile: more than 90% of all sport broadcast on television remains male.

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