Portland’s first-of-its-kind women’s sports bar announces four new locations across the country

When Jenny Nguyen opened The Sports Bra, the world’s first sports bar playing only women’s sports, she knew she had a solid name and idea. Whether or not people would respond was an open question, but Nguyen was optimistic.

Her ultimate dream was The Sports Bra as a drop in a tidal wave of support for women’s sports.

“I think we’re on the cusp of something huge,”

Nguyen told The Oregonian/OregonLive in 2022

.

Three years later, it turns out

she was right

.

Since opening, women’s sports in the city have continued to grow in popularity, and Portland has even been picked as the home

of a new WNBA team

.

And sports bars playing women’s sports on TV are in demand, too, with at

least a dozen copycat bars

popping up across the country.

And The Sports Bra itself is growing,

expanding into cities across the country

.

The Sports Bra announced in the fall that

it would begin to franchise

with investment from Reddit co-founder and husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, Alexis Ohanian. And on Tuesday, the locations of the next Sports Bra locations were revealed: Boston, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and St. Louis.

A press release from the company noted that those cities already support women’s sports, with teams like the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever, as well as professional hockey, football and soccer teams.

“The first four franchises of The Sports Bra will join our OG Portland location to become the ‘Starting Five,’” Nguyen said in the press release. “Together, we’re serving fans nationwide who are hungry for spaces that not only champion women’s sports, but create a community where everyone feels like they belong. There is no better moment than this to open these places.”

Addresses and opening dates for the new locations have not yet been announced.

–


Lizzy Acker


covers life and culture and writes


the advice column Why Tho?


Reach her at 503-221-8052,


lacker@oregonian.com


.

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