if you build it... (you know the rest)

and a peek behind the curtain of pitching this story

photo by Tim Evans for Eater

I had planned to have an interview for you with the inestimable Julia Serano, regarding the recent publication of the third edition of her seminal text, Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. But editing our hour-long conversation (!!) is taking longer than I had planned and my therapist says I need to have more compassion for myself and stop blaming my Virgo moon for my tendency to beat myself up which sounds fake but I’m going to try it out. My interview with Julia will be out early next week.

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This week, I published a feature at Eater on the rise of women’s sports bars in the U.S. and beyond.¹

From the piece:

Rough and Tumble [Pub] had a ripple effect on the city’s bars — when people couldn’t get into the women’s sports bar to watch the Reign, they went to the nearby establishments and filled them up. In all, there were well over 40 watch parties at Seattle bars and restaurants to view the NWSL championship. In 12 months, Seattle went from having one or two places that might play a Reign game here or there to selling out watch parties all over the city. “That is the power of women’s sports fans,” says Barnes.

In an industry with a massively high failure rate for new businesses, and in which successful establishments don’t usually see a profit until at least year three, The Sports Bra and Rough and Tumble Pub are showing that there is big business in women’s sports. “We are profitable now,” says Rough and Tumble’s Barnes. “We were profitable before one year.”

I shout out women’s sports bars that have opened or are opening in Portland, OR, Seattle, Minneapolis, Long Beach, Brooklyn, Chicago, Salem, OR, Toronto, London, and Somerville, MA.

One of the things I mention in the piece is how, even after these two pioneers demonstrated success, (women) entrepreneurs are still struggling to get approved for Small Business Loans.

“The gender gap in Small Business Association loans is slowly closing, but both [The Sports Bra’s Jenny] Nguyen and [Rough and Tumble Pub’s Jen] Barnes were denied SBA loans when they opened, turning to crowdfunding and the community to help them raise the funds,” I wrote. “[A Bar of Their Own’s Jillian] Hiscock ran into the same problem, becoming yet another female-owned business to be denied an SBA loan. Luckily the community came through, raising over $200,000 in just 75 days.”

A Bar of Their Own opened earlier this month. After being denied that SBA loan, opening weekend featured crowds that began at 9:45 AM and spanned several blocks.

goals_sports_

A post shared by @goals_sports_

During their first week, A Bar of Their Own served 4,500 guests and sold 350 pounds of wings. The fact that investors still don’t see the potential in these establishments is confounding. The owners know why they’re a success, though.

“‘There’s a feeling of ownership and investment on an individual basis that you just don’t get from commercialized men’s sports,’ Barnes says. These fans really believe that their participation will make a real difference.”

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Pitch class

And to try something new this week, I thought I’d share the successful pitch I sent that landed me this assignment. This was sent back in November 2023.