PORTLAND, Ore. — The Sports Bra has announced plans to franchise and expand into other cities.
The now-iconic Portland destination made history in 2022 as the first women's sports bar that only televises women's sports. Jenny Nguyen, founder and CEO of The Sports Bra, said they plan to bring the bar's concept across the country to continue their mission in supporting, empowering, and promoting women in sports.
"We try to promote, empower, and support girls' and women's sports but also within our communities and that's everything from the beer on our tap list to the beef in our burgers," Nguyen told KGW.
Growing up as a basketball player turned chef, Nguyen said it was hard to find bars that would play women's games.
"It was always a challenge," Nguyen added. "You would always have to ask to have the channel changed; sometimes they'd do it and sometimes they wouldn't. I mean, that was an inconvenience, but also I grew up in Portland, and there aren't very many people who look like me going to sports bars."
Investment from Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and the husband of tennis legend Serena Williams, will help fund the expansion in partnership with Ohanian's 776 Foundation. All returns will be invested back into girls' and women's sports, the news release said.
"At Seven Seven Six, we're enthusiastic about the incredible advancement in women’s sports," Ohanian said. "Our foundation is proud to back The Sports Bra, which is a welcoming place for everyone to celebrate these athletes' feats."
The announcement of the bar's expansion comes at a defining moment for women's sports, The Sports Bra said. Viewership of the 2024 NCAA women's basketball tournament reached 18.7 million, eclipsing the men's tournament. The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team broke viewership records for the FIFA Women's World Cup in the summer of 2023.
"You look at all these sports now, there is undeniable excellence coming from women," Ohanian said in a video on Instagram. "I'm just looking for all the ways we can reinforce and build and do it in a way that makes sense with the community. Every bar I ever walked into was only showing exclusively men's sports. Random people are just gonna stumble in. Y'all in two years have already done that here, and you think of how that starts to spread."
The Sports Bra opened in April 2022 and quickly saw widespread national news coverage, making it a destination spot for local patrons and visitors. It continues to fill the space for watch parties and events, drawing crowds to a point where the bar has to typically put a sign on the door saying it's full.
"This is an exhilarating time for women’s sports, and The Sports Bra has proven the strong need for more places to celebrate them," Nguyen said. "I envision a future full of Sports Bras everywhere doing what we do best: supporting women."
Currently, the Sports Bra doesn't have any specific locations picked out yet for franchises. Nguyen said they're to find entrepreneurs who can keep the brand authentic and most importantly personal.
"We'll take applicants from everywhere," Nguyen said. "Wherever the top applicants are, that's where we'll go."
Nguyen told the Associated Press that they're open to working with people who already have a physical space, as well as those who may only have a business plan. What matters, Nguyen 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 with the Associated Press at The Sports Bra, where she happily watched her college women's lacrosse team on one of the TV sets, she said such establishments "celebrate women's sports and the champions and the athletes behind the story."
"It's exciting to see it grow and gain such popularity," Reau said of the bar. "It's just such a moment right now for women's sports."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.