The Sports Bra sits at 2512 NE Broadway, in Sullivan's Gulch, and it earned its place in the record books before it poured a single beer. Founder Jenny Nguyen opened the doors on April 1, 2022, with one rule that nobody else in the country had committed to: the screens show women's sports, full stop. Travel Portland calls it "the nation's first women's sports bar," and the line is not marketing fluff.
The pull is that single, stubborn programming choice. Where every other sports bar buries the Thorns or the WNBA on the corner screen, the Bra puts them on every screen, a stance the bar built its whole identity around, per Travel Portland. The bet paid off fast, with the room drawing national press from the moment it opened.
The space is small and warm, a single bright room with a long bar, a wall of taps, and tables that fill to the door for a Thorns night or a World Cup group stage. The crowd is the reason the place works: regulars who finally have a home for the games they care about, families, and visitors who read about it and had to see it. It runs loud for a big match and easy on a weekday afternoon.
What to order keeps it local. The taps lean Oregon, so start with a Portland craft pour, add a plate of wings or the smash burger, and the kitchen turns out solid bar food without trying to win awards. Pricing holds at $$, fair for inner Northeast.
Who it is for: the women's-sports fan who is tired of asking a bartender to change the channel, the group chasing a Thorns or WNBA night, and anyone who wants to see a piece of sports-bar history. For the wider field, our ranked guide to the best sports bars in Portland places the Bra in a category of one, and the full Portland guide maps where it sits on Broadway.
Best time to go is a Portland Thorns or WNBA night, when the room turns into the loudest watch party in the city. The bar is closed Monday and Tuesday, so check the schedule before you make the trip. It is a short hop from the Hollywood and NE 7th transit stops, which keeps it easy to reach without a car.
For a different Portland register, the beer-soaked Horse Brass Pub covers the old-school English-pub end and Spirit of 77 handles the big-screen, arena-adjacent crowd. What keeps the Sports Bra first on a women's-sports night is that nobody else made the commitment it did. It is the original, it is still packed, and its reputation now reaches well past Oregon. For a fan who wants the game that other bars ignore, this is the only call, and our national sports bars index rounds out the map.
The origin story is part of the draw. Nguyen funded the build through a crowdfunding campaign that blew past its goal in days, a sign of how many people wanted a room like this to exist. Since opening, the Bra has pulled coverage from national outlets and a steady stream of out-of-town visitors who plan a trip around it.
The food keeps pace with the mission. The kitchen sources from women-owned and local producers where it can, and the rotating tap list leans hard on Oregon breweries. None of it is fussy, which is the whole point: this is a neighborhood bar that happens to be making history. A pint, a burger, and a game nobody else is showing is the entire pitch, and the room delivers it night after night.
Sources: The Sports Bra (official) · Travel Portland · Yelp (updated May 2026)
