Babe's in Chicago joins national wave of women's sports bars
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Chicago is joining a national trend of new bars centered on women's sports.
Women's sports bars are springing up in multiple cities, growing from one to 12 in just three years.
Why it matters: With viewership and attendance for women's sports soaring, fans are building new hubs that are about creating community while watching their favorite athletes.
Driving the news: Babe's Sports Bar in Logan Square is expected to open later this summer.
The vibe: The bar will play everything from basketball to roller derby on its TVs.
- There will also be old bleachers and a scoreboard accenting a classic Chicago dive bar, co–owner Nora McConnell-Johnson tells Axios.
Zoom in: The idea for a women's sports bar came after McConnell-Johnson struggled to find a bar playing the WNBA championship games in 2021, the year the Chicago Sky won.
- "It was this, like, compounding disrespect … the fact that I had to search and do research to try and just watch arguably one of the best performing Chicago sports teams," she says.
Zoom out: Six women's sports bars have opened across the country this year, with as many as 17 on the way in various stages of funding and construction.
- In addition to Babe's in Chicago, at least seven have announced plans to open by the end of this year.
- Bar owners mix the fun and camaraderie of team sports with an atmosphere that's welcoming to everyone, including nontraditional sports fans and the LGBTQ+ community.
Flashback: It all started with The Sports Bra, a Portland bar dedicated to supporting and showing women's sports founded by Jenny Nguyen in April 2022. Whiskey Girl Tavern in Andersonville also opened that year.
- Sports Bra announced this week it's opening locations in Boston, Las Vegas, Indianapolis and St. Louis.
What they're saying: "What I know from my time as a middle school teacher is that culture and sense of belonging are so, so vital for humanity [and] success. I'm really trying to imbue some of those frameworks and learnings and structures into Babe's and the space," McConnell-Johnson says.
- "Let's bring people in that have always been a little timid about going to a sports bar," says Monica Brady, co-owner of upcoming Kansas City women's sports bar The Dub, told Axios' Travis Meier.
Stunning stat: In 2023, women received less than a third of all Small Business Administration's loans despite owning about 43% of America's small businesses, according to the SBA.
- Women are also denied loans more often than men and receive less funding on average, according to the Federal Reserve.