Oregon’s Sports Bra, a pub for women’s sports fans, plans national expansion as interest booms

By CLAIRE RUSH
Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon sports bar focusing on and showing only women’s athletics has plans to expand across the country through a franchise model. The Sports Bra opened two years ago in Portland, the state’s largest city. Its founder and CEO says she already has fielded hundreds of inquiries from potential partners. The move comes as interest in women’s sports is at an all-time high, embodied most recently by the frenzy over University of Iowa and now Indiana Fever basketball star Caitlin Clark. As the fan base and engagement grow, so too does the appetite for changing a sports bar culture that has traditionally catered to men’s athletics.