A women's sports pub is in the works in Austin. Where does the project stand?
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Several cities across the United States have opened sports bars that may be considered unconventional by some: these bars are dedicated specifically to women's sports.
Places like The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, Rough and Tumble in Seattle, and A Bar of Their Own in Minneapolis have found success so far in the new business model. The Sports Bra -- the nation's first women's sports bar -- opened a little over two years ago and recently announced plans to go nationwide through a franchise model, the Associated Press reported.
The bars come at a time of high success for women's sports, with several leagues seeing record-high viewership in recent seasons.
Women’s sports have been more lucrative in the last few years, generating more money than they've historically been able to pull in. According to Forbes, the value of women’s sports is expected to surpass $1 billion in 2024, with revenues growing at 16% annually.
Viewership is also on the rise. This year, several women's sports events broke viewership records, with the Olympics and women's basketball drawing in millions of viewers. Forbes reported millions of people tuned in to watch athletes like Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Sha'Carri Richardson, and many others take home gold in Paris this summer.
The WNBA and NCAA have also seen spikes in terms of how many eyes are on women's sports matches this year. The NCAA had its most-viewed-ever NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament, with the championship bringing in an average of 18.7 million viewers, per Forbes, and the WNBA just wrapped up its most-watched regular season on record, with more than 54 million unique viewers, according to its website.
But the increase in the popularity of women's sports is just a small part of why two Austin women are working to open a women's sports bar in Austin. It's a "purpose project" for them.
Debra Hallum and Marlene Du Plessis are the women behind Austin's future ATX Women's Sports Pub, WSP for short. The pub has been in the works since the beginning of 2024, with an original goal of opening this fall.
The timeframe goal for opening, however, has been pushed back to 2025. There's not an exact date in mind yet, but a crowdfunding campaign for the pub ends on Feb. 1, 2025.
What's the hold up?
Hallum acts as the co-owner/managing partner of ATX WSP while Du Plessis still juggles the pub with working full-time in education. Hallum said the reason behind the delay boils down to a struggle with finding the right space for the pub.
They hope to find a place in central Austin, with at least 3,000 square feet to work with and a second-generation kitchen space.
"The challenge is space. Austin has a very tight real estate market for retail and especially for second-generation kitchens, and that's a quicker opening for us, and that's really what we're looking for," Hallum explained.
"So, you know, funding is not the issue. We have the funding. We have a lot of the stuff in the background done. It's really about finding that location and an owner who is willing to open a lease for us," Hallum said.
As of Sunday (Oct. 13), the women are waiting to be approved as tenants and are negotiating on a space, Hallum said at a watch party for Game 2 of the WNBA 2024 playoff finals hosted by ATX Women's Sports Pub and WNBA Club Austin at Central Machine Works.
Funding the ATX Women's Sports Pub
Hallum and Du Plessis have personally invested in the business, spending about $35,000 on it so far, just on things like marketing, pop-up events, start-up and legal fees, and other things to put legs under WSP.
Hallum said they anticipate spending around $360,000 to $460,000 by the time the pub is up and running.
"That [covers] everything. It's the big televisions. We're going to need the sound systems. We're going to need the branding, the decorating furniture, anything like that we're looking at," Hallum explained.
"It's a large sum to do something like this in Austin and open it up, and, especially for the amount of space -- we would love to be at 3,000 square feet plus. And so then you've got to, you know, decorate all that. So it will be quite the investment for us," Hallum said, adding that it will all be worth it. "This is, for us, a purpose project."
Something the women are hoping will help with the overhead cost of opening a new business is a crowdfunding campaign. Hallum said some of the other women's sports bars have been successful in similar crowdfunding avenues they've taken to open up their spaces.
The crowdfunding description on ifundwomen.com says donations will go toward "overhead costs such as securing a location in Central Austin, renovations, furniture, living wages, licenses, and launching."
"Additionally, your donations will cover renderings of female athletes throughout history that will be displayed around the restaurant, ensuring no one leaves ATX WSP uneducated about women in sports! Eventually, a portion of our profits will be used to support local women’s organizations and help more girls play sports," the description said.
Hallum said crowdfunding is also a way for them to engage with the community.
"So we wanted to do that to see how we could engage the community. That was really the thing for us, is, let's promote what we're doing. Let's engage with our potential future customers and let them have the ability to be a part of this and contribute."
Hallum emphasized that donations and crowdfunding are not the main source of funding for the pub, again noting that she and Du Plessis are personally investing in it.
"Of course, you know, we also want to be very careful about that," Hallum said. "Whether we find the space and what it costs us to get in, and we intend to be very responsible with the money that we're investing in it, but crowdfunding was really about engaging fans and engaging the Austin community."
Community engagement
Other than the crowdfunding, Du Plessis and Hallum have worked to engage in the community and partner with the right people and organizations.
While the pub is yet to become a brick-and-mortar business, in the interim, there have been pop-up events, the latest one happening Sunday, Oct. 13 as a watch party for Game 2 of the WNBA 2024 playoff finals, co-hosted by WNBA Club Austin at Central Machine Works.
The pub also has a presence on social media, where its current focus is highlighting women athletes and providing information and updates about WSP as well as event announcements.
The goal of the pop-ups, Hallum said, is primarily for her and Du Plessis to meet people and "let them know we're coming."
"We're here. We're coming," Hallum said. "Hopefully they will follow us and get engaged with us. We have seen our followers on social media -- and those interested -- climb through those pop-ups. So that part definitely is working. And we've seen some of those folks go to our crowdfunding and make some donations."
Hallum also said the events are a chance to answer people's questions about the pub. She said once people hear about the plans to open a women's sports bar, they have questions and want to know what Hallum and Du Plessis's goals are locally.
Some of those questions: What are your plans? What do you want to do? Will you only show women's sports all the time or will men's sports play occasionally too? How will you be there for local teams/support them?
"We want people to know that we are trying to partner and work with the experts in a restaurant and bar environment, but also with sports," Hallum said.
Hallum said they've also worked to partner with an Austin-based WNBA fan club, pro-volleyball league LOVB (which recently started Austin's first pro-volleyball team), Austin's first pro-softball team the Texas Smoke, local community leagues like the Austin Women's Basketball League, and she said they've spoken with the University of Texas at Austin about becoming a fan base location for the Longhorns.
"They don't have a place, and we want to support them and partner with them and be that place for the teams and for their fans," Hallum said, referring to UT women's sports and the local community and pro teams.
Fran Harris, an NCAA Champion (Texas) and WNBA Champion (Houston), is a supporter of the pub. She said she met with Hallum a few months ago "as a supporter of the dream" to give her some thoughts on raising capital and driving interest.
When asked about her thoughts on the prospect of a women's sports-focused bar in Austin, Harris said over text, "There is NO better place for a women’s sports bar than the ATX! We’ve supported women in sports for decades — so, it makes sense that a womanpreneur would step up to the plate to slam dunk this!"
As for the impact it could have on UT women's sports, "Awareness always drives support. And let’s keep it a buck - women love gathering to celebrate women! Fandom will increase and women’s sports revenue will increase. Can’t wait!"
Harris also attended the watch party on Sunday, giving halftime remarks on local support for women's sports and her ongoing efforts to have Austin be one of the top contenders as a future home for an eventual new WNBA team, as the league recently announced Portland as home to the 15th team and is expected to add a 16th by 2026.
A potential challenge Harris thinks the WSP could face is customer acquisition, though she noted that's something every company battles.
"But I know that there’s a market for women’s focused sports bars in AUSTIN. I’ll be a regular!"
Why open a women's sports bar in Austin?
To put it simply, Hallum and Du Plessis both have strong personal connections with sports and want to see more representation for women athletes. They were also inspired by visits to The Sports Bra and Rough and Tumble and thought Austin should open a space similar to those women's sports bars.
Du Plessis grew up in South Africa, where every student was required to participate in athletics, and through that upbringing, she gained a love for playing and watching sports.
As for Hallum, she grew up in a small town in Oklahoma in the 70s and 80s, where "everything was about the boys." She said she didn't have much access to playing sports or seeing other women in sports, and she wants to provide that to women and young girls now.
"It's very important to us now, you know, girls need access. Women should have access," Hallum said. "I also love to watch and have a great respect for these athletes who give it their all."
Hallum also added that she and Du Plessis, after meeting at church, started watching and attending sporting events together. Sports is a shared passion between them.
Du Plessis said what really made the business plan strike for them was visiting the women's sports bars in Portland and Seattle and talking to their owners.
"We were just both blown away. It was amazing to be there," Du Plessis said. "And, you know, [it] had just women's sports playing on all the televisions. It was just amazing. And then we talked to Jen, the [Rough and Tumble] owner, for a while, and we got really, really, really inspired, and we looked at one another, and it's like, 'you know what? This can work in Austin.'"
"So we came back, and we would go back and forth, back and forth. And then in January of this year, we decided, 'you know what, nobody's done this, we're going to do it,'" Du Plessis said. "And it's been a wild ride, and so, so inspiring."
The Sports Bra owner Jenny Nguyen has become an unofficial consultant for them and several other prospective owners of women's sports bars across the country, per reporting from independent newsroom The 19th. There's even a group chat in which those owners can bounce ideas off each other and pass along updates on their respective business plans. Hallum and Du Plessis said it's been helpful and encouraging to be part of it.
Du Plessis said the athletes work hard but they don't have a place to call "home," to meet up after a game or to gather to watch sports. Even if women's sports fans wanted to view matches at standard sports bars, Du Plessis said challenges in doing so often arise.
"Whenever you go to a place, you have to ask the people to change the channel, and if they do show women's sports, there's no sound," Du Plessis explained. "You know, you have to really try to call around and ask 'hey, you're going to show that game?' So, it's the right time to do this. And we are so excited to, you know, start this here in Austin."
Hallum described the Women's Sports Pub as a "purpose project" for her and Du Plessis.
"You know, this is for us a purpose project," Hallum said. "I spent 29 years in corporate America, and, you know, I got to a point where [I thought], 'What am I doing this for? Because I'm fighting, you know, I'm in a male-dominated field and company.'"
"Marlene feels so strongly about sports, and from education, you know, she sees it. I see it," Hallum continued. "I mean, for both of us, this is about women, and it's a purpose, and let's put those female athletes on that pedestal that they deserve. Let's acknowledge them for their hard work. Let's make them the mainstream, and so it's worth the investment. For her and I, both, we feel very strongly about that. Because it is -- it's time. Austin deserves this. Austin is ready for this, and we're going to do this for women."
Why now?
Hallum said she's done research and found that Austin's market is similar to those in Portland and Seattle, both home to successful women's sports bars.
She also cited new contracts being signed that will allow for women's sports to be aired and streamed more widely than before. The WNBA, for one, recently announced what it called a "monumental" media rights deal with Disney, Amazon Prime and NBC. The AP reported the deal will begin with the 2026 season and run through 2036. The league will receive about $200 million a year through the deal, per the AP.
Hallum also pointed to the Longhorns, local leagues, and growth among sports based in Austin.
The University of Texas entered a new era for sports this year, officially joining the Southeastern Conference (SEC) over the summer. With the new conference comes new challenges and new eyes on the Longhorns, but also an opportunity to grow their fanbase, and the WSP hopes to become a home to the university's women's athletics fans.
"So when I did my research, Austin is one of the top fanbases due to the UT fans," Hallum explained. "We have tremendous college sports lovers here in Austin, and so that's really one of the things. We've got this huge fan base for our college. And not just UT, they're not the only university, there's others here, but the research brought up that UT has this huge fan base, and Lady Longhorns are a very big deal."
Hallum also mentioned local growth among pro women's sports leagues, with the expansion of LOVB and the start of the Texas Smoke, and she hinted at rumors that Austin could be one day be considered for a WNBA expansion as well. The WNBA rumors, however, have not been confirmed for Austin, though the league's commissioner hopes to expand to 16 teams by 2028. There were 12 active teams for this most recent WNBA season, with the 13th and 14th teams heading to San Francisco and Toronto, and the 15th recently announced for Portland, Oregon. There is speculation surrounding what cities could be on the docket for future expansion, and the Austin Business Journal reported last fall on an effort (backed by former UT and WNBA player Fran Harris) to bring a team here eventually.
"Another 'why' is, we know there's going to be so much more in Austin, and there's going to be probably a lot of growth. And just LOV3 Volleyball, and the WNBA expansion is proof of that, so it's part of why we'd go now," Hallum said.
Regardless of what teams Austin has now, or in the future, local women's sports fans can look forward to calling WSP their go-to spot. Whether fans come to watch the local teams, national professional leagues, or international matches, the Austin Women's Sports Pub will soon be a "home" championing women athletes.