.jpg)
If you’ve ever tried to watch a women’s sporting event in public in a non-Olympic year, you’re probably familiar with the hustle it requires. First, you have to locate a bar, restaurant or pub that reliably televises sports; next, you have to get them to agree to put the game on. Even if you luck out and manage to find a bar that will let you unwind in front of a women’s soccer game or tennis match, you know at some level that you’re being humored; the space might allow you in, might even let you wrest control of the remote, but it’s not for you.
And it’s not just you: a 2021 study found that women's sports are barely covered on TV, with 95% of total television coverage focusing on men's sports.
Two months ago, on an increasingly bustling stretch in Northeast Portland, a potential corrective to this imbalance emerged in the form of the Sports Bra, which describes itself as "the sports bar dedicated to women's sports." "The", rather than "a," is all too accurate, as the Sports Bra is currently the only bar in the U.S. that devotes itself fully to women's athletics. Basically, if you've ever found yourself Googling "megan rapinoe best goals" at 4 a.m.—or even just daydreaming about a champagne-soaked celebration with the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team after a win—this is the place for you.
The line is out the door the first time I make my way to the Sports Bra, but the potential patrons gathered outside seem more than willing to wait for their wine and softball. Owner Jenny Nguyen is taken aback by the level of media attention and local support that the Sports Bra has already gotten, but her focus is always on making sure that her patrons feel safe and empowered to relax and have fun. Nguyen's professional background is in food, not sports—she formerly worked as an executive chef at nearby Reed College—and it took some encouragement from her girlfriend, whom she met at a local standing game of pickup basketball, to make her longtime dream of "a sports bar where women's sports are on, and the bathroom is always clean, and the menu has gluten-free options" real.
"All of our friends are athletes or sports fans, and for my friends who are queer or non-binary or trans, traditional sports bars don't always feel that safe," says Nguyen, noting that the Sports Bra's policy of maintaining gender-neutral bathrooms speaks to a mentality of "being really intentional in small ways." Nguyen is also focused on connecting with local residents in an area that has been rapidly gentrified in recent years. “People from the neighborhood seem really jazzed that we’re here, which is great, because it’s super-important to us to be a good neighbor.”
The menu at the Sports Bra is definitely a cut above your average beer-and-wings sports pub; wings do feature on the menu, but in a nod to Nguyen's Vietnamese heritage, they're caramelized with coconut milk and served over a tangy cabbage slaw. The food occupies a hard-to-navigate middle ground between traditional game-day fare and uber-lefty Portland offerings (how often have you seen a tempeh Reuben on the menu at a sports bar?), and the drinks list—which is partially fueled by women-owned distillery Freeland Spirits—pack a punch while keeping you hydrated enough to make it out the door by the Sports Bra's 11 p.m. nightly closing time.
The Sports Bra doesn't advertise itself as an explicitly lesbian space—in fact, one patron I talked to, who asked to remain nameless, expressed frustration that the bar wasn't more of an overt queer singles' pick-up spot—but its message of support for the LGBTQ+ community and its many intersections is unambiguous, expressed through details like a Black Lives Matter sign posted to the right of the bar or a flowered wall-hanging exhorting patrons to Protect Trans Lives.
Writer Frankie de la Cretaz, who covered the Sports Bra shortly after it opened in April, noted the timeliness of the Sports Bra's trans-affirming nature, telling me, "The Sports Bra is a space that celebrates women’s sports—something that isn’t inherently trans exclusionary. Trans women play sports and women’s pro sports leagues have been the most inclusive of trans and non-binary players, with some leagues that have those players on current rosters. But I do think that in the currently political climate of legislation that attempts to exclude trans women and girls from women’s sports, it’s an important gesture for an establishment like The Sports Bra to explicitly states that they welcome and support people of all genders who both play and love women’s sports."
When I made my second visit to the Sports Bra on a recent rainy Sunday, the queer energy of the place was undeniable. As I sipped my "The GOAT" cocktail (Geneva gin, orgeat, aperol, tangerine juice, and soda water) at the bar, I struck up a conversation with Abby and Kim, consummate sports fans and moms to three kids, ages nine, eight, and three. "They're not really into sports yet, but we live close by, and the kids' menu looks like something they would be into," said Kim, sharing a smile with her partner.
To my right at the bar, another duo—this one made up of friends who look to be in their mid-twenties—catches my attention. "I've been here three times, and it's kind of low-key a queer bar," says one half of the pair, who introduces herself as Madeleine and professes a deep fandom for the Portland Thorns.
It's true that I spy more than one table in the place that seems occupied by queer people on a date, but there are also clearly sports-obsessed buddy pairs, middle-aged women sitting solo, grandparents with small children, and every other type of human arrangement that could conceivably be scarfing down nachos and watching women's sports on a Sunday afternoon. In a time of increasing hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community, it's deeply meaningful to watch the Sports Bra cater to and celebrate its queer and trans patrons without siloing them away; against all odds, it seems Nguyen has truly created a space for all.
