From Sports Bars to Brands: Everyone Needs To Be Moving Fast In Women's Sports

Compressing impossible timelines in emerging markets

In 2022, the first two women's sports bars opened in the United States. By early 2025, that number reached six venues nationwide. This market has no indication of slowing down—brands and entrepreneurs are facing a choice when it comes to women's sports from any investment angle: move fast or watch others capture the opportunity.

Jax Diener, with 20+ years of project management experience from Warner Brothers and Living Spaces, recognized the California market gap for women's sports bars in 2023, and reached out to Jenny Nguyen about franchising The Sports Bra. 

The Sports Bra wasn’t ready for that expansion, so Diener took to task in opening her own women’s sports bar. Industry experts told Jax that opening any bar or restaurant in under a year was impossible.

She said: Watch me.

Jax gave herself one target: open Watch Me! Sports Bar by July 26, 2024, the same day as the Paris Olympics opening ceremony. In 10.5 months the  220-capacity venue became California's first women's sports bar (right on schedule).

In a market expected to quadruple by the end of 2025, entering first meant establishing predictable revenue patterns, community recognition, and partnerships before competition intensified. The typical 12-18 month opening timeline would have meant missing that window entirely.

Key Takeaways

Rapid market entry in women's sports requires:

→ Navigating regulatory processes with strategic stakeholder relationships
→ Leveraging existing networks for compressed learning curves
→ Executing transformations without sacrificing quality or positioning

Speed through strategic selection

Rather than building from scratch, Jax prioritized identifying opportunities that provided 80% of requirements with minimal modification needs. Speed-to-market would trump perfect customization when entering an untapped segment where no competitor had established a foothold.

She identified a Mexican restaurant whose owners had publicly announced they wanted to move on. The space came with functioning kitchens, proper zoning, and included licensing. Most critically, it included a liquor license—notoriously difficult to obtain in Los Angeles.

"We knew that the liquor license was coming with this one, so that was a humongous thing for us, because it's hard to get a liquor license in LA, and I would assume in a lot of places," Jax explained.

The infrastructure selection prioritized cosmetic changes over structural modifications. There is  a general lack of infrastructure for women’s sports, but Jax serves as a  good reminder that sometimes you can pull from what already exists.

The ABLE Framework for rapid market entry

Jax compressed an 18-month timeline to 10.5 months by following four principles.

This framework can be applied to any emerging market where speed creates competitive advantage and delayed entry means watching others capture the opportunity you identified first.

A: Align launch with cultural moments that validate your concept

The Olympics opening validated demand immediately. Watch Me! could identify its core audience demographics, understand capacity constraints, and establish pricing models based on real customer behavior rather than projections.

The Paris Olympics alignment wasn't just a marketing strategy. It provided proof of concept during peak women's sports visibility. The U.S. Women's National Team soccer matches drew lines around the block, and following the Olympics, soccer still remains one of the top drivers for fans and viewers.

"Soccer was busting out the doors, we had a huge line to get in, and they thought, I'm gonna miss the whole game if I'm standing out here," Jax recalled. "And so, we actually lost people because it was so popular."

B: Build community capital before submitting applications

Jax scheduled face-to-face meetings with her district council member before submitting any permits or applications. She explained her business vision and community impact, positioning Watch Me! as an asset to Long Beach rather than just another business seeking approval.

"Get to know your congressperson and your council member of your district, because I had a face-to-face meeting with our council member, and she ended up being incredibly pivotal in working behind the scenes to get our permits and get all of that done in time," Jax shared.

The relationship proved essential. Watch Me! received its business license the day before opening. Without early stakeholder engagement, regulatory delays could have derailed the entire Olympic-aligned launch strategy.

L: Lean on industry networks for technical knowledge transfer

Jax connected with operators running similar concepts in adjacent markets: Jenny Nguyen from The Sports Bra in Portland, Jen Barnes from Rough and Tumble, and Jillian Hiscock from A Bar of Their Own. These conversations weren't about competitive intelligence; they focused on technical specifications that would compress her learning curve.

It’s the same open playbook model that has fueled women’s sports: get further faster, get further together.

"I would talk to those guys mainly about, like, how did you handle how many TVs you had? How did you handle satellite versus streaming? You know, and all of our bar sizes are different," Jax explained.

She established ground rules upfront, telling each operator: "Look, if I'm ever asking something that makes you feel uncomfortable, please just say, I'm not comfortable answering that." The response was consistent transparency. Operators in the women's sports bar space shared operational details because they recognized the broader market opportunity benefited everyone.

E: Execute Cosmetic Transformation on Aggressive Timeline

Jax received keys to the space on June 1st. She opened July 26th—a 56-day renovation timeline for a complete brand transformation. The renovation focused on high-impact cosmetic changes. Every decision prioritized visual transformation and functionality over structural modifications.

"We flipped it in an insane amount of time, and it was mostly cosmetic. We have a patio here that had flapping canvas window things, and I replaced all of that. We put in garage doors, and put glass in, and industrial paneling," Jax described.

Daily project management discipline kept the renovation on track toward the immovable opening date. There was no flexibility in the timeline—the Olympics would start whether Watch Me! was ready or not. And that speaks true to much of the women’s sport world's momentum right now: you either move to meet it, or it moves forward without you.

Early entry, lasting advantage

Within months, predictable traffic patterns emerged across soccer, basketball, rugby, volleyball, and softball, plus insights like Angel City FC away games driving higher bar traffic because local fans held season tickets. A successful local restaurant owner helping with operational audits told Jax "he has never seen anything like us when we opened, in his entire career".

While competitors spent 18+ months navigating the same processes, the increasing speed and growth of women’s sports means the luxury of time isn’t there. Defying the naysayers and nonbelievers, Watch Me! captured market share, built community recognition, and established partnerships without missing a beat during one of the most widely viewed women’s sports events.

The market is expanding, but "first in California" only happens once. Six venues became two dozen in a single year. Every month spent in development is a month someone else spends building the relationships, traffic patterns, and community recognition you'll spend years trying to replicate.