I believe I have discovered the story of the most innovative, impactful, heart-warming company and business concept of all. With a huge opportunity for casinos! Say hello to The Sports Bra (that’s right, B-R-A) of Portland, Oregon, a sports bar that shows only women’s sports on its screens.
I don’t recall how I first heard about The Sports Bra, probably in one of my news feeds. But I was intrigued enough that when we went on a two-week vacation this past summer that included spending time in Portland with my sister, well, I just had to visit The Sports Bra.
Now, I’ll confess to being a longtime fan of women’s sports. My wife, Becky, played high school basketball in Iowa (when it was still 3 on 3!) and we have been totally into the Caitlin Clark craze and are big WNBA fans. We are enthralled with Olympics women’s soccer, basketball, figure skating, swimming, skiing, and a few other sports. As a golfer, I love watching women’s golf. (I haven’t sold Becky on that one yet.) So I was excited and prepared to be impressed when I entered The Sports Bra with my sister, Bev.
It felt like a shrine to women’s sports. Autographed sports memorabilia all over the walls. Women’s sports trophies on display. Women’s sports on every TV screen (a WNBA game had just ended). And mostly women in the relatively small facility.
So of course I had to pepper the friendly bartender (who was also responsible for programming the women’s sports shown on the TVs) with the many questions that popped into my head. Is it only women’s sports on the TV? (Yes.) How did this concept get started? How did you get all the stuff on the walls? Who created the unique food and drink menu? Do many men come into The Sports Bra?
I just had to know more. I received the business cards of two Sports Bra executives (Deb Pleva in PR and Jennifer Chiang in Business Development). This led me to a 90-minute interview with The Sports Bra founder and CEO. (It was supposed to be 30 minutes.)
Enter Jenny Nguyen, The Sports Bra CEO, and easily one of the warmest, open, most candid and smart people I have ever had the pleasure to chat with.
This is her story. Jenny Nguyen’s mother was the daughter of a Vietnamese General. Her father was a simple laborer, a class difference not lost on Jenny’s maternal grandmother. After the Vietnam War, several members of her family immigrated to Minnesota, where there was a growing Vietnamese community, with many wondering how they settled in such a cold climate.
Uncle Henry left first, moving to Portland, Oregon. Jenny’s soon-to-be parents soon followed him to Portland, where Jenny Nguyen was born in 1980. At the age of 5, she “discovered a ball and started to dribble it.” This led to her love of basketball and women’s sports. This blossomed into Jenny playing high school basketball, getting a small scholarship to college, blowing out her knee, and never being the same player again. It was hard for Jenny to see her basketball dreams fade. At the same time, she came out as gay at age 17.
So Jenny started a new path, getting into the food business after college, going to culinary school, becoming an Executive Chef, working for a food management company, and sort of stumbling on an idea that would change her life and many others’.
It was 2018, and Jenny and some friends went to a local sports bar, looking to watch the finals of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Game, the thrilling contest between Mississippi State and Notre Dame. They politely asked the bartender if she could put on the NCAA Women’s Basketball game and they did, but they were relegated to watching a small screen, in a far corner, with no sound.
As Jenny recalls, “I was pissed, not only about having to watch an epic game on a tiny TV with no sound on, but at myself for becoming so accustomed to watching women’s sports as if it were second class.” And while I’d like to tell you that this was the immediate spark of the start of The Sports Bra, it was more a simmering flame that took four more years to come to fruition. But it was a running joke among the friends, and I’m sure at some point, someone said, “We should have our own bar where women’s sports is the main attraction!” And “Sports Bar” got transposed into “Sports Bra.”
So in 2020, COVID hit and Jenny Nguyen’s life had only been basketball and cooking. In pondering from her couch what to do next, her “Sports Bra” idea, to have the first sports bar for women’s sports, returned and now started to take shape. She put pen to paper and wrote a business plan. (She admitted, “I had no idea how to do a business plan.”) She showed it to one of her mentors at the food-management company, expecting the normally conservative guy to urge caution to Jenny, who by the way, had no money for this endeavor. But he whispered to her, “Don’t tell anyone else about this idea and move as quickly as you can.”
Jenny went to banks, who weren’t lending to restaurants that had been closing during COVID, and certainly not lending to someone with no experience running a restaurant, no matter how unique the concept. However, one lady banker did ask to meet with her for coffee in a private personal meeting and although she had to tell Jenny “No” to the loan, she lifted her spirit by telling her how much her concept would mean to her daughter.
Jenny set up a campaign on Kickstarter, where she got a few donations in the first week. Then a local Portland writer did a story on Jenny and The Sports Bra idea. In 30 days, Jenny had raised $100,000 on Kickstarter. She then found a great location with a kind landlord who supported her dream and the growing interest in women’s sports in the Portland area. The Sports Bra Portland opened in April 2022.
It has built on its success ever since, with its unique food menu that includes Mom’s Baby Back Pork Ribs and Aunt Tina’s Vietna-wings. (It’s actually Jenny’s recipe, but Aunt Tina says they’re better than hers.) The sports-themed drink menu includes The GOAT, Title X, Scrum Punch, and Pickle Ball. The Sports Bra Portland is an unqualified success.
Early in 2024, Jenny received a tweet from Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and husband of Serena Williams, saying that when Jenny was ready, he’d like to talk with her about investing in The Sports Bra concept. Jenny thought the tweet was a joke. But she did reply. And Alexis Ohanian is now a major investor in The Sports Bra.
In 2026, there will be Sports Bras in St. Louis, Indianapolis, Boston, and Las Vegas. In 2027, Jenny is expecting to see seven Sports Bra franchisees. Jenny and her team will help them with the franchise template, the training, and the execution of The Sports Bra brand. They will all be free to add their own local flavor to the food and drink menu and how they interact with the local community.
In chatting with Jenny, it was clear that she wasn’t moved by the money or her snowballing business success with The Sports Bra. She’s moved by her effect on women and the local communities, her ability to provide fans of all kinds (yes, The Sports Bra is very LGBTQ-friendly) a safe and welcoming place to watch women’s sports, and where their tagline, “We Support Women” rings true from the food and drinks to the custom tables made by nonprofit Girls Build.
So the next time you’re in Portland (or in any of the new Sports Bra cities), stop by and see The Sports Bra for yourself. Especially if you are a fan of women’s sports. And casinos, hello? Last I knew more than half of your customers are women and you have tried many less interesting, impactful, and potentially profitable restaurant concepts than The Sports Bra. So check out The Sports Bra and opportunities for growth at thesportsbraofficial.com. Don’t you think The Sports Bra would resonate with all those women slot players and women sports fans?
