Meanwhile, in New York—a city that seemingly has everything except a place to watch women’s sports—Althea’s and Athena Keke’s both plan to open women’s sports bars in the near future.
Jenny Garcia, 37, has been a New York Liberty fan since the team was founded in 1997, and spent most of her twenties looking for bars to watch the games, often denied her request to change one of multiple TV screens to a WNBA game (which overlaps with baseball season). She finally found a few spots that were open to it, but they closed during the pandemic. “There’s nothing like being around other sports fans,” Garcia says. “There’s so much excitement. It makes me so emotional to see how much women’s sports has grown.” But when the Liberty is out of town, the season ticket holder has nowhere to watch the games, retreating to her couch where she—a proud member of the cord-cutting generation—pays for expensive streaming services to watch away games.
The community lured Garcia’s girlfriend, Felicia Fitzpatrick, 32, as a new but enthusiastic WNBA fan. More of a thespian than an athlete, Fitzpatrick digs the drama, the colorful costumes (also known as uniforms), and the electric energy of the games. The fact that the players and fans are majority women, and queer women, helps. “I’m not a competitive person, I hate that someone has to lose,” Fitzpatrick says. “But I love the vibe.” Already, she can envision herself commuting from New Jersey into the city to kick back at Althea’s, with friends or with strangers who quickly become community, as she’s already found in her early fandom.
“These bars are going to uplift and amplify women and women’s sports,” says Breanna Stewart, 2023’s WNBA MVP and New York Liberty Forward. “When we have more viewers, it gains attention. The excuse of not being able to watch isn’t going to be an excuse any more. There’s a lot of momentum to get behind.”
Still, there’s much progress to achieve when men’s sports are still considered just “sports” and women’s sports have to come with a special moniker. Women don’t have a professional baseball or football league, nor are pro athletes compensated at a fraction of the salaries received by their male counterparts. (Stewart’s current contract is for $205,000, while the 30th NBA rookie draft pick is looking at a minimum of $2 million.)