Three years in the past, The Sports activities Bra in Portland, Oregon, was the one sports activities bar in america devoted to ladies’s sports activities. Now, it’s a franchise.

At this time, backed by Alexis Ohanian’s 776 Foundation, The Sports activities Bra introduced plans to open its first franchises in Boston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, and St. Louis. Contemplating that there have been solely six bars across the country devoted to ladies’s sports activities in the beginning of 2025, The Sports activities Bra is rising on the identical tempo because the nook of the business it helped carve out, with practically 30 women’s sports bars set to exist by the top of the yr.

“The Sports activities Bra is greater than only a place to look at the sport—it’s a motion,” mentioned Sports activities Bra founder and CEO Jenny Nguyen. “Our workforce spoke with lots of of folks about opening a franchise location, and we’ve met some unimaginable folks alongside the way in which. These proprietor/operators are succesful, enthusiastic, and deeply dedicated to The Bra’s mission.”


Women

A chef and former school basketball participant, Nguyen opened The Sports activities Bra in 2022 with a two-week Kickstarter marketing campaign to construct a spot the place underrepresented communities may come to look at under-televised sports activities. She constructed household recipes for ribs and wings into the menu and used spirits from women-owned breweries and distilleries to inventory the faucets and gas cocktails like The GOAT and Title IX. 

The bar made its first $1 million in lower than a yr, and an inflow of followers introduced partnerships with manufacturers, together with Clif Bar, Focus Options, The Athletic, and Nike.

For individuals who have been trying, the demand for what The Sports activities Bra supplied was all the time there. Final yr, a report by analysis agency Bain & Firm discovered that, when requested why folks don’t have interaction with ladies’s sports activities as a lot as males’s, 40% blamed an absence of protection. One other 30% mentioned ladies’s sports activities have been poorly marketed, whereas 27% mentioned ladies’s sports activities broadcasts have been too arduous to search out.