She also spends an inordinate amount of time "scouring" TV listings, a process she likens to "taking a machete and chopping through a jungle."īut she's no longer alone. Nguyen says she's taken to reaching out directly to sports networks and streaming services, some of which have hooked her up with access to more women's sports content. Only about 5% of all TV sports coverage focuses on female athletes, according to a 2021 University of Southern California study. The denials commonly cited the high risk of a unique concept run by a first-time entrepreneur during a pandemic, she adds.Įven the bar's core concept is a struggle: It's hard to find enough women's sporting events to fill up the televisions. That's a far cry from the Kickstarter days, which Nguyen says only happened after she was denied business loans by multiple banks and small business associations. Ginny Gilder, co-owner of the WNBA's Seattle Storm, has even waited in line to watch her team play on The Sports Bra's TVs, Nguyen says. Women's basketball icons like Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi showed up, for an event sponsored by Buick, earlier this month. Today, there's often a line out the door. Actual people in Portland still needed to frequent the bar. "At that moment, when I was looking at that Kickstarter graph, I thought to myself, 'This might work,'" she says.īut the money, which came from around the country and world, was no guarantee of success. To Nguyen's surprise, the campaign raised more than $105,000 in just 30 days, thanks to a viral article in online food publication Eater. In February 2022, she launched a Kickstarter to raise $48,000 - enough money for an extra six-month financial cushion, to build up the sort of regular clientele any bar or restaurant needs to survive long-term. That would keep The Sports Bra afloat for three months, based on her cost estimates for labor, inventory and other overhead. At first, Nguyen had her savings, and $40,000 in loans cobbled together from friends and family.
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