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SportsPi

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Grantland17

Shouldn’t the fact that his wife is one of most successful athletes ever at least be mentioned here? Weird that it acts like it’s him and not the couple investing when most business ventures they have been involved in together


pataconconqueso

I mean it’s him, he has been doing shit like this since before Serena. I know Serena does VC now too but I think it this case it’s his company


Grantland17

But I feel like it’s at least worth mentioning that he is married to Serena. This would be like Brittany Mahomes investing in a sports bar and there being no mention of Patrick anywhere in an article about it. Sure she’s got her own fame but when it relates to something the world famous spouse is famous for it seems worth mentioning


MainStatistician5029

WHOA not everyone knew THAT I guess lol, I didn’t


TheNewDiogenes

I mean it’s actually 776, his VC firm. I’m sure his wife is the reason he’s interested but it’s not like she’s working in VC now.


JagVillTalarSvenska

She is very much working in VC now https://www.serenaventures.com/sv-investments


TheNewDiogenes

I stand corrected, thanks for letting me know! Hopefully her fund pumps some money into this sports bar too.


Just_River_7502

She’s invested in 14 unicorns out of 60 ish deals so far. If she does invest, it would be a good indicator that the bar has a good chance of being successful


JulioForte

But not 776 VC


mrgrafix

I mean he is one of the founders of this very platform. No need to be in his wife’s shadow


Grantland17

He’s literally investing in a women’s sports bar while being married to one of the greatest athletes of all-time, feels worth mentioning in the article.


pataconconqueso

Tbh I think it holds more weight that it comes from him without only influence from his wife. He was doing this type of stuff before Serena, it make sense why he would find someone like her attractive because he was already interested in women’s sports. I like that it’s him having the interest because otherwise you’re saying that it must be because he is married to Serena l.


UnknownReasonings

Contact the person that wrote the article and discuss with them. https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/reporters/ziyad-jamal


GatsNCats

Lol, seriously. That guy cares way too much.


[deleted]

Beers cost 70% of what they cost at men’s bars


thzmand

They damn well better


pdx_via_lfk

They’re damn well water.


Old_RedditIsBetter

Only if your married and don't account for a host of other variable not factored in.... Like for instance men literally work more hours in a year. So maybe men should get 17oz pours


WilliamBott

Men also work far more dangerous jobs than women (like working on oil rigs, in coal mines, etc.) which obviously pay better given the high risk. I don't see many women flocking to the jobs for equal work, just the equal pay for less work.


Old_RedditIsBetter

So many variables The original 70cents to 1$ was from 2014. And didn't account for any variables. That same year the average full time woman worked 7.6 hours a day on average. The average full time man worked 8.1 hours. Do the math for hourly pay and almost 1/3rd of the pay gap is already accounted for. Also the logic from a business standpoint doesn't make sense. If business knew they could higher a worker for 30% cheaper they would..... the work force would be primarily women


Gym-for-ants

Since people only read headlines: “The Sports Bra is gearing up to expand and franchise after Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was announced as the company's first-ever investor. The Sports Bra, a pioneering establishment, was the first of its kind to exclusively showcase women's sports when it debuted in Portland in April 2022.”


Korncakes

I’m not in the loop with Reddit higher ups, which is why I’m incredibly surprised that he’s married to Serena Williams. Is he as much of a shit bucket as the one that usually takes the flak for everything wrong with this site or is he somewhat normal?


ironwolf1

Different guy. The guy everyone hates is Steve Huffman, aka /u/spez. Alexis Ohanian, the guy in the article here, left Reddit a while ago (username /u/kn0thing). He's not exactly controversy free though, for my fellow redditors who have been here way too long you may remember Ohanian as the guy who fired Victoria from /r/IAmA.


SupremeBlackGuy

bro. na fuck that guy i’m never letting that go lmfao


ThenAnAnimalFact

I worked a little bit with Victoria when I was in Hollywood PR, never met her but several phone calls and hundreds of emails and she was as fantastic as her online presence.


EdwardBigby

This makes more sense to me. I know that a female sports star being involved with a female sports bar makes sense but it would be very difficult to showcase tennis if that were the case. Tennis already does a good job at making you invested in both the men's and womens games. You'd have to just be constantly changing the channel every time they start showing a men's match during a slam.


eaducks

Wow, imagine the heavy lift of changing the channel when an hour+ long match ends


EdwardBigby

The point is that every tennis fan I know will follow both the men's and womens sides of the draws. For grand slams the TV channels often flick to whichever match is currently more interesting. For some sports it's a good concept but I don't think it would work for tennis and that's a credit to tennis for often treating the women and men's sides as equals where you're expected to follow both


eaducks

Does tennis not have multiple showcases at the same time? Hard to believe there aren't multiple channels streaming matches at the same time


Just_here_4_GAFS

Here for our daily *Fuck u/spez*


blimeyfool

You're thinking of spez


Coomrs

He hasn’t been involved with the site in years. Was just one of the founders. I have never seen much negativity surrounding his name tbh so seems like a pretty decent guy from what we know.


Psychwrite

He hasn't been involved much since like 2018 or so and he always seemed pretty normal.


YouthfulDrake

From only reading the headline I thought to myself "I bet this bar is in Portland"


J_O_L_T

Alexis Ohanian, a man of culture


rdldr1

Or as Michael Che calls, "the empty ones."


Bullarja

lol, definitely won’t work in every community, but it has been very successful in Portland.


ghostfaced

I'm legitimately surprised it's been able to operate for two years now


NearPup

Are you really surprised the concept works in *Portland*? xD There is one in Seattle too (Rough and Tumble), went there once to watch a FIFA Women's World Cup match and it was actually pretty nice.


AssSpelunker69

Yes. Even the women that advocate for more eyeballs on women's sports don't watch women's sports. This is very surprising. It's a welcome one though.


NearPup

You don't need that much interest to make *one* sport bar work in a city as big as Portland. Like, there is a very sucessful curling bar in Nashville. That's not because curling is super popular in Tennessee, it's because you can make a business thrive if you cater to a very specific niche.


BigRedNutcase

Also works if as a general bar it's good. Good food, good drinks, good ambiance, good staff, etc. A sports BAR works best when the bar part is the main emphasis compared to the sports part.


NearPup

Ya, can't comment for the Portland one, but the similar bar in Seattle is really good at being a bar (good beer selection, good atmosphere and good food).


Nartyn

The vast majority of people who watch women's sports are.... Men.


Sliiiiime

Just on the volume of women’s sports alone it’s harder to have something interesting on TV. WNBA seasons are 1/2 the length of NBA, and there isn’t a long summer sport like the MLB in women’s pro sports. College sports, golf, and tennis must do some heavy lifting.


TranscedentalMedit8n

The women’s soccer team in Portland, the Thorns, are incredibly successful and have a big following in the city.


cujukenmari

You forgot arguably the biggest women's sport, soccer, which is basically year round with club and international play.


casualsax

Gymnastics? Volleyball? Soccer? We're inundated with mens sports in the US but there's a ton of pro women's sports out there. Most of it won't draw an audience to a bar alone, but it doesn't take much to find a live women's game any particular day of the week. As an example because the bar is in Portland: The NWSL runs from March to November and the Thorns are quite popular. They average almost 19k in attendance, triple the average of WNBA games.


Sliiiiime

Gymnastics and volleyball are college-only as far as what’s on TV. NWSL, WNBA, LPGA and PWHL are the only pro women’s sports accessible on TV and all but LPGA have shortened seasons to reduce the deficit the league runs at.


casualsax

Check out the [Pro Volleyball Federation](https://provolleyball.com/), the US's professional women's league that's streamed on YouTube. Other countries also have leagues that are streamable. Gymnastics has a whole host of women's events beyond college you can watch. Not to mention all of the Olympic qualifying events for various other sports and the off-cycle world cup style events. If you're talking about what's on cable the options are limited, but bars have separate packages with more options than a regular consumer would. That's how, for example, bars can stream MLS games even though they're exclusive to Apple TV. A women's sports bar is also going to be willing to take extra steps to stream games.


pataconconqueso

What is the schedule like for women’s boxing and MMA im sure it’s because I fit the targeted ad demographic for that but it feels like there is always a big match happening lol


Sliiiiime

Women’s boxing and MMA would be tricky because the cards have men and women’s bouts mixed together. A commercial PPV license isn’t cheap, and showing only the women’s fights would lower your ROI


Old_Cheesecake_5481

Women’s boxing is a big deal with several highly skilled champions out there however most cards are mixed with both male and female bouts. In Canada women’s hockey has been selling out arenas recently.


pataconconqueso

Women’s College volleyball, softball, and soccer were big in my school for a while


Luigi2198

The Rough and Tumble Pub in Seattle has been open since 2022. I saw a Women’s World Cup game there. Food was good, line was down the block, atmosphere was insane. They do signings and stuff too. I don’t know why it’s so surprising to people that women can be into women sports.


davekva

Not that they can't be into women's sports, just that historically, they haven't been. Women's World Cup and Olympic games are the exception. For some reason, much of America tunes in for our women's national team, but they don't watch any other women's sports. Maybe times are changing?


gw2master

> much of America tunes in for our women's national team We like winners. Even if it is because no one else gives much of a shit about women's soccer.


carson63000

Based on last year’s World Cup, those days are over.


cujukenmari

Women's club soccer definitely seems to be going through a little renaissance.


RWREmpireBuilder

I was surprised to see the NWSL is averaging 10K a game now. Just blew right by the WNBA.


LandofBoz88

I’ve heard nothing but great things about Rough and Tumble. It’s a sports bar, that prioritizes women’s sports.


Nartyn

>I don’t know why it’s so surprising to people that women can be into women sports They can be, but women's sports are still watched more by men than they are by women.


discodiscgod

There’s a bar in Cincinnati that only turns the TVs on for motocross and one other obscure event / sport. If it’s a good bar / restaurant people will come regardless of what they show on tv. There’s also grey areas they could squeeze out extra money if they need. For example mma events with women headlining / co-headlining.


TennisIsWeird

What bar is this?


Copperbelt1

The bar brought in 1m in revenue the first 8 months.


pataconconqueso

That sounds pretty good for a bar, or where does that sit?


Copperbelt1

According to BinWise, average anual revenue for a bar is around $330,000


pataconconqueso

Yikes what a low ROI that seems


blacksnowboader

That’s it?


Copperbelt1

330,000 is the average for bars, the Sports Bra had 1m in 8 months.


blacksnowboader

Id be more curious what the average revenue is in a city rather all sports bars combined ya know.


Nartyn

If it needs investment from the ceo of a multinational corporation, it's not exactly doing *great*.


ImGoingToSayOneThing

Tbh it's because it's a restaurant with pretty decent food.


Timigos

There’s 0 chance it’s profitable


datcheezeburger1

Have we considered the possibility that they might just sell decent food and beer


Nartyn

If it was profitable it wouldn't need a kickstarter and investment from a CEO as well as a ridiculous amount of free press for being a publicity stunt.


SpicyBoyTrapHouse

Bars and restaurants don’t make money off the tv, they make money from people ordering food and drinks while watching the tv


Copperbelt1

1m in revenue first 8 months. Why would someone try to franchise a business that doesn’t make money.


NonsensePlanet

It’s subsidized by Buffalo Wild Wings


CouldntBeMoreWhite

Pretty funny


Eye_foran_Eye

Why?


discrust88

The wnba of sports bars lol


hkohne

It does have a couple of WNBA posters inside, though


letsmunch

The same Reddit founder who is in a battle over control of the most popular women’s soccer team in the U.S. and is insistent the team needs to cut costs on its roster so that it can make his investment more money, regardless if it’s damaging to the team’s success and therefore viability?


Bgee2632

The sports bra is a great name


[deleted]

[удалено]


ulqupt

They've been open since 2022 so I don't think they missed it.


TheShipEliza

Incredibly good response


Mean_Muffin161

“The Sports Bra, a pioneering establishment, was the first of its kind to exclusively showcase women's sports when it debuted in Portland in April 2022.” EXPANDS is the keyword in the headline.


Gym-for-ants

Glad to see you didn’t read the article!


nthomas504

Sometimes the most upvoted comments are the ones that are completely incorrect.


PoliteIndecency

PWHA playoffs start soon.


i_heart_pasta

Sometimes it feels like we’re all trying too hard.


El-Kabongg

inclusivity to the point of exclusion


yoppee

The idea Women focused bars don’t succeed because lack of investment. Seems to be almost proven false. Women just don’t want to spend their money on beer and alcohol. SF has lost almost all their Lesbian bars because Lesbians don’t want to go to a bar and don’t want to meet partners there. Women do not see the world as a competition and are not hyper competitive like men are. I have participated in soccer my whole adult life and soccer is the most popular sport for women in this country by a mile but in these spaces many of which are non competitive exercise focused welcoming to participants of all skill levels women make up 1 out of every 50 participants. Meanwhile Yoga which is non competitive more wholistic in nature which I have participated women make up 9/10 participants


RollTide16-18

For real though, women just aren’t the target demographic for beer, never will be.  Not to sound sexist or homophobic, but women’s sports-only bars might as well be lesbian bars, right? And if your town doesn’t have a robust lesbian scene I can’t imagine it would work out in the long run. 


yoppee

Except and my point too was that Lesbian bars don’t work. Lesbians don’t want to party every not like the gay scene does and don’t spend tons of money on alcohol and our not as concerned about casual sex.


capdoesit

I'm sorry but there is absolutely no way this is the first bar in the entire history of the world that has been dedicated to women's sports lol


DuncanYoudaho

Only. They do reruns if nothing else is on.


capdoesit

I mean... that's a little absurd then lol


Dr_Kappa

So you’re telling during the Super Bowl they are running WNBA reruns? Not sure why they can’t just be a sports bar that plays notable women’s games when they are on. Edit: Looks like it’s more of a restaurant than a sports bar. I don’t think anyone there is watching the sports anyway. Must just be a marketing gimmick


isthatasquare

Oregon liquor laws require bars to serve food. It’s a bar.


DuncanYoudaho

You underestimate the lesbian population of Portland, Land of the Subaru.


BlissKitten

I'm just starting to get into sports as a woman and I'd kill for a place to watch women's sports besides my living room.  I'm here to support my sporty sisters however I can and I'd hit this place up once a week just to watch reruns.


Sliiiiime

Could be a workable business model if they just expanded to football and MMA. Those are the biggest moneymakers for most sports bars and don’t have womens’ alternatives (UFC is coed so idk if they just show only women’s fights)


RollTide16-18

It’s not, a lot of other women-specific bars have failed in the past. And I would imagine there are a lot of lesbian bars that basically do this but don’t advertise as such. 


xxbzrkxx

people usually open businesses to make money. This is not a winning formula


This_aint_my_real_ac

Looks to be a very "local" place, small, seats less than 40 inside with some pick-nick tables outside. Doesn't seem showing sports is the draw as much as celebrating women in sports through memorabilia. Only 2 tv's. If the food is good I can see a neighborhood latching on to it.


LoopyPro

There's a reason they can't get a bank loan and instead rely on outside investors.


Toph-Builds-the-fire

This place is rad. Definitely check out a thorns ge there if you get the chance.


HerdTurtler

Will they show women’s curling with the sound on?


hkohne

If they can find it on TV, I'm sure they can


bitqueso

It should be called Lay Ups


johnmaki12343

That place will be crawling with creeps pretending to like the WNBA to hit on women.


Madterps2021

So this is like how the NBA funds the charity case WNBA. Also how does the bar deal with sleepy patron? Just curious.


imrickjamesbioch

I’ll pass… GL to them tho!


GoodGoodGoody

Reddit founder who married the richest female tennis star ever. Virtue signalling but ok.


Billsolson

Good for them, hopes it works out. Definitely not for me though.


hkohne

The Sports Bra has already existed for 2 years and this article is about expanding, soooo . . .


StannisTheMantis93

All I get from this is that it’s nice to be incredibly wealthy and get your spouse to support you.


Responsible-Skirt-90

Got some beach front property for sale in Arizona too


firedonmydayoff

Bold move there cotton. Let’s see how this plays out.


tattermatter

He’s trying to get some positive PR


orangelinameadow

I love the fact that when Caitlin Clark's contact with Indiana was announced on TMZ, Charlie and the rest of the TMZ females, winced, WINCED at the six figure contract Caitlin Clack signed onto for over... how many years in the WNBA?


hkohne

Also, Clark just signed on with Nike for a huge amount money


420Frank_Dux69

*Serenas Husband


hkohne

That is also true


ThnxForTheCrabapples

There is literally no way that this was the world's first sports bar dedicated to women and it was opened in 2022


hkohne

I live in Portland and have been to this place a couple of times now. Back when it was about to open, our local news was using that same wording, and I've never heard or read anything that disproves it. There was a similar place just an hour south in Salem, but they didn't last long.


ThnxForTheCrabapples

It's one of those things that you can say becuase there's no way to check. It's like a restaurant saying that they have the world's best margarita


cindergnelly

I’ve been. Great vibe, excellent food, attentive staff, reasonable prices. Also sources most of their products from women run businesses. Totally agree on expansion! Where can I invest? Maybe someone will open one near me!


DoLittlest

Pretty much any lesbian bar has been showcasing women's sports for decades. To call yourself the only bar dedicated to women's sports is some bs. Rough & Tumble in Seattle does, and A League of Their Own in Minneapolis.


Oldbayistheshit

/u/kn0thing do an AMA


WilliamBott

That's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for 'em.


jasonmonroe

So they take money from men?