The Sports Bra founder Jenny Nguyen has the backing of long-term women's sport supporter Alexis Ohanian CREDIT: FLI Social
Sports Bra that specialises in showing women’s sport is proving a big hit in the US and already has plans to scale up
What happens if you bring together a basketball-loving chef, Serena Williams’s husband and women’s sport? Well, the result should be a successful chain of sports bars, with a difference.
Before getting to the future, though, let us rewind a few years.
It was in 2018 that Jenny Nguyen, the aforementioned chef, hit upon the idea of a bar showing only women’s sport. She and some friends had crowded around a small television (with no sound) in the corner of a bar in Portland, Oregon, to watch a college basketball final, having had to ask one of the staff to change the channel to the women’s game.
The experience was far from optimal, hence the discussion around a new type of sports bar.
It took four years for Nguyen to get the concept off the ground, what with the pandemic and the need to raise funds. Banks were not forthcoming with loans; they were enthusiastic about the idea but as it had “never been done before” it was considered high risk. Instead, she drew on her own savings, support from family and friends, and a Kickstarter campaign, and, in April 2022, The Sports Bra opened its doors.
Of the name, Nguyen says: “One simple change makes all the difference, like changing a channel or flipping two letters in ‘sports bar’. It was the first thing I thought of and it really stuck.”
Nguyen was unsure whether the bar would be successful but need not have worried. For the first couple of months, there was a queue outside when it opened; the first-come, first-served policy meant people were happy to wait in line to get one of the 40 seats inside, enjoy the live action on one of five televisions and appreciate the plethora of memorabilia adorning the walls. Nguyen is strict about no reservations, too: various teams and athletes have tried to book areas and been turned down. Some well-known names have even joined the queue in order to get inside, with Portland Thorns fixtures in the National Women’s Soccer League the most popular among patrons.
It is that level of demand that has seen the bar bring in $1 million (£788,000) in revenue each year.
“It has 1,000 per cent exceeded my expectations,” Nguyen says. “I wasn’t prepared – I went from zero to 1,000 mph. I underestimate everything and things go 1,000 times faster than I think they will. Whatever my plan is, it turns out to be dramatically different.”
Which brings us on to the recent involvement of Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit, the other half of tennis great Williams and a long-term supporter of women’s sport. Nguyen is not a regular on X but was alerted to the fact that Ohanian had responded to a message on the social platform saying he had been following The Sports Bra since day one and encouraging them to get in touch.
“I tried to be the cool kid so I waited two whole days, liked it and then slid into his DMs to say, ‘Thanks for the shoutout, here’s my email if you want to connect’,” Nguyen recalls. “Within an hour, he’d emailed back, saying he would love to know my plans. Every month or so, he’d check in, asking if he could help in any way. Once I decided franchising would be the way forward, I emailed him and he said, ‘Let’s get on the phone, how can I be involved?’”
The result has been Ohanian’s 776 Foundation investing in growing The Sports Bra’s footprint, with applications for franchises across the United States to open soon. Nguyen had planned to scale up in year four or five, so, to be doing so already illustrates how fast things are moving. They hope to have three or four new sites opened by next year. All returns on the foundation’s investment will also “be donated to advance future generations of women athletes”, according to Ohanian.
So, what advice would Nguyen give to anyone thinking of setting up a women’s sports bar in the UK? “Do it – the more the merrier. Pushing representation and accessibility is not about one person. What’s worked best for us is authenticity and staying true to our values. Building communities around the fandom of women’s sport, giving that accessibility and representation, is absolutely key.”
And it is an approach that has proved hugely successful.
