Women’s sports bars, which somehow didn’t exist in the U.S. until before 2022, are on the rise, with a new report from NBC News estimating that their number will quadruple by the end of 2025.
Currently, there are six women’s sports bars open in the U.S., three of which opened this past week, just in time for March Madness: 1972 Women’s Sports Pub in Austin, Texas, Title 9 Sports Grill in Phoenix, Arizona, and Set the Bar in Omaha, Nebraska. By the end of the year, there are projected to be roughly 24 women’s sports bars in total in the U.S., per NBC News. As the three bars that opened this past week prove, those establishments won’t just be limited to big cities on the coasts (although, yes, there are two bars expected to open in New York this year and two in San Francisco). They also include Columbus, Ohio, where Raise the Bar is set to open this fall; Kansas City, Missouri, where The Dub will open at some point this year; and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where another bar named Title 9 is slated to open.
What’s the difference between a “women’s” sports bar and a sports bar? Seems like a pointlessly gendered classification.
Seems like a pointlessly gendered classification.
sports bars by default cater to a male clientele, male sports, and male interests and therefore tend to have a “bro”-ey and “masculine” atmosphere that can often be offputting or outright hostile to the presence of women–women’s sports bars by contrast don’t, and generally have more interest in being inclusive community hubs and/or acting as substitutes to gay bars
in other words: no, it’s not really a pointlessly gendered classification in the current situation. it certainly is not what i’d call the norm (nor has it been my experience) for sports bars to have a code of conduct which tells you being homophobic or chauvinistic or ableist isn’t cool and could be grounds for your removal, as one of the women’s bars downthread has
We wonder how accepting of trans women they will be or are in these bars.
i mean, you can research this for yourself. here’s what i found with about three minutes of Googling and following links
The Sports Bra:
1972 Pub:
A Bar of Their Own:
the names and addresses of many of these bars: right here
Thanks and that’s a fair criticism.
This is fantastic news. Women love sport just as much as men, with more tangible numbers, the pay gap will close and that’s great for everyone.
