The United States loves sports activities. Whether it’s the World Cup, the Super Bowl or March Madness, Americans watch all of them. Last 12 months, Saturday Night Football on NBC and Thursday Night Football on Fox outpaced the remainder of all tv viewing — every pulling in 18 million and 15.4 million common viewers, respectively.

So, it stands to motive that, given the proper alternative, sports activities followers can be simply as into the matches they have an inclination to miss. Such as, say, women’s sports.

Jenny Nguyen agrees. She’s opened her personal bar in Portland, Oregon referred to as The Sports Bra, and it solely airs girls’s sports activities.

She joined Marketplace’s Kai Ryssdal to speak in regards to the impression the bar is having. A transcript of their dialog is beneath and has been edited for readability.

Kai Ryssdal: So give me the elevator pitch. You go to your buyers, your potential companions, and also you say, “Hey, here’s this idea I have.” What did they are saying?

Jenny Nguyen: All the buyers I went to to start with, everybody was like, “It’s a hard no.” Three foremost causes: One being it’s a restaurant and bar throughout COVID. Two, I’ve by no means carried out this earlier than. And three, nobody had ever carried out this earlier than, in order that was like, “We love this idea. But it is just way too risky.”

Ryssdal: Oh, however have slightly religion, will you individuals! I imply, have a look at girls’s sports activities. Look at girls’s basketball; have a look at girls’s soccer, for crying out loud, proper? I imply, that needed to have been a part of the response.

Nguyen: Sure. I imply, lots of people have been like, “Wow, we can’t believe this has never happened before.” But then, , lots of people additionally have been on the identical boat as what my dad’s first response was — which was, “There’s probably good reason why nobody has done it before.” So there was a whole lot of hesitation, a whole lot of doubt. And, , it was actually scary on my finish too as a result of, once more, I had no thought.

Ryssdal: I imagine it was scary. I imply, , establishing a enterprise must be terrifying to start with. But why did you are feeling you had to do that?

Nguyen: Oh, that’s a terrific query. It simply felt like there have been so many locations the place conventional sports activities bars have been lacking the mark, notably for folk like us. And I imply girls’s sports activities followers, however I additionally imply for nonbinary or queer people, as a result of oftentimes these areas don’t really feel protected. And then additionally, so far as the worry goes, it was actually scary. And I used to be similar to, , I can simply proceed to reside my life and all the things can be high quality, and that is simply an concept that comes and goes.

Ryssdal: Oh, you couldn’t try this.

Nguyen: No, I couldn’t. I imply, I began to consider, , if I have been 9, 10, 15 or 17, and if my mother and father introduced me into a spot like The Sports Bra as a child, what sort of an impression that will have had on me. And after I thought of that, I used to be like, “No, this has to happen, or at least I’m gonna give it a shot.”

Ryssdal: I’ll let you know, I obtained a Slack this morning from a colleague who had seen this interview on as we speak’s rundown. And she mentioned, “I took my soccer-obsessed daughter to The Sports Bra this summer when we visited Portland. Cool place.” So, your idea bears out in actuality.

Nguyen: Yeah, it’s occurring. And what’s fascinating to me is that there was a crowd that I used to be anticipating. And I might say 80% of everybody that walks via that door is the group that I’m not anticipating.

Ryssdal: Oh, say extra about that. That’s attention-grabbing.

Nguyen: Yeah, so I believed like I used to be filling a distinct segment marketplace for girls’s sports activities followers. But it seems that The Sports Bra actually resonates with so many individuals on so many alternative ranges. Oftentimes, we’ll get individuals who don’t even watch sports activities, however they need to really feel protected, they need to really feel a part of a group. And whereas they’re there, perhaps they get swept up in slightly fandom.

Ryssdal: So right here comes the all-important query to the lady operating a enterprise: How’s enterprise?

Nguyen: Business is nice. You know, we began out completely jam-packed. It was like opening the doorways to a line after which closing the doorways to a line — which, , in all of my analysis, I used to be ready for the alternative.

Ryssdal: So look, what are the growth plans? Got to suppose massive, proper?

Nguyen: Yeah, , after I had written the marketing strategy, I had thought of perhaps a dozen main metropolitan cities within the nation being a great place for The Sports Bra. But now, after being open and having gotten simply a whole lot of love from all throughout the globe, I’m having to form of recalibrate my ideas on growth and or franchising.

Ryssdal: Super fast after which I’ll allow you to get again to operating your small business — the naming and the branding. Was it a no brainer? Did you guys agonize over it with some, , branding guide?

Nguyen: Oh, completely. It was a no brainer. You know, my thought initially was simply to have a sports activities bar, and all we have been doing was altering the channel. And so that easy change was what I considered a sports activities bar and a easy change of two letters. And so as soon as I mentioned that, I used to be like, “Yeah, that’s sticking.”