Oregon's Sports Bra, a pub for women's sports fans, plans national expansion as interest booms
An Oregon sports bar focusing on and showing only women's athletics has plans to expand across the country through a franchise model
PORTLAND, Ore. — On a recent weeknight at this bar in northeast Portland, fans downed pints and burgers as college women's lacrosse and beach volleyball matches played on big-screen TVs. Memorabilia autographed by female athletes covered the walls, with a painting of U.S. soccer legend Abby Wambach mounted above the chalkboard beer menu.
The Sports Bra is a pub where women's sports are celebrated — and the only thing on TV.
Packed and buzzing with activity, the bar has successfully tapped into a meteoric rise of interest in women's sports, embodied most recently by the frenzy over University of Iowa basketball phenomenon Caitlin Clark's records-smashing feats.
Just two years after opening, the bar announced plans this week to go nationwide through a franchise model.
“Things have happened at light speed compared to what my forecast was,” founder and CEO Jenny Nguyen told The Associated Press. “This tiny spot that I built for my friends and I to watch games and give female athletes their flowers means so much more. And not just to me, but to a lot of people.”
Under the plan, bars and entrepreneurs elsewhere will be able to apply to use The Sports Bra brand for their franchises. Nguyen is open to working with people who already have a physical space, as well as those who may only have a business plan. What matters, she said, is that the potential future partners share The Sports Bra’s values.
One aspiring partner is Jackie Reau, who hopes to open a franchise in Cincinnati, where she works as the CEO of a media and marketing agency. During an interview at The Sports Bra, where she happily
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