A rare sports bar dedicated to showing women’s sport has built a loyal following in the northwestern United States, with the founder and many patrons hoping progress towards equality for women athletes will come with the growing popularity of such establishments.
The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, opened its doors in 2022 to great community reception.
“The line was four blocks long the entire weekend when we first opened. It was mayhem,” said Jenny Nguyen, the founder of what is believed to be the country’s first women’s sports bar.
Of the gender-based wordplay in the name, created by inverting two letters, Nguyen, 45, called it “a tiny change that makes a dramatic difference”.
She said the bar is a place where she imagined women’s sport would not only be shown in a corner on the smallest TV, as at other venues, but on every screen and with the whole crowd invested in the games.