Underpromise, Overdeliver…
By Mitch Berg
“A Bar Of Their Own” – a bar devoted to women’s sports – opens tomorrow in Minneapolis.
I wish them, and just about any new business trying to make a go of it, all the best.
There are some who’ve mocked the concept. I don’t – anyone who tries to contribute more growth and wealth to our society is doing the right thing, even if they seem to couch the idea in terms of “community” and “inclusion”.
Profiting from a consensual transaction is as inclusive as it gets.
Now, I have a few questions. For example…:
The bar was made possible in part by a crowdfunding campaign that managed to exceed its fundraising goal of $200,000 by more than $5,000.
The notion of starting a business via crowdfunding is kind of a new one. On the one hand, if you can get people to pony up for a concept, maybe they’ll patronize the business.
On the other, investing based on emotion isn’t a smart play, and crowdfunding isn’t even investing, per se.
At any rate, I do wish them success. While I imagine most of the donors would get hives seeing it this way, that’s what makes free-market capitalism work.
No, my question is this: “Bring Me The News” added:
A Bar of Their Own is part of a rising trend kicked off last year when The Sports Bra — the very first women’s sports bar in the U.S. — opened to huge fanfare in Portland. You can read more about it right here.
Boy howdy, did they ever get the fanfare. They got more free media coverage than any new business I’ve ever seen – sorta like ABoTO is getting in the Twin Cities. I fully expect to see the Fox9 Morning News to do one of their “free ad” standups at the bar on Friday morning.
But is two bars actually a “trend”?
By the way – leave your predictions for the bar’s future in the comments.
February 29th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
I might visit if you’re allowed to boo when Will (Lia) Thomas steps onto a starting block….
February 29th, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Good luck to them. Will the target demographic want to hang out in Seward? Seems like they’d have been better off in Nordeast, but we’ll see.
February 29th, 2024 at 1:07 pm
I give it roughly 24-36 months.
Women’s sports is a tough market. Women don’t watch many sports, and fewer still watch primarily women’s sports. That’s a tough audience.
Men will compete at any activity, generally physically (unlike women, who tend more often to compete differently). It’s in their genes. So they’re attracted to sports to vicariously participate in the competition. Men thus form a bigger audience for sports, and they tend to look for high skill competitive sports and highly competent teams in general to associate with winners (compare the number of football fans for Indiana vs. Michigan or Ohio State).
In general, women’s sports are newer, and typically feature less competition and ability. The US Women’s soccer team will lose to good US high school boys teams. The best professional women’s tennis players can’t match the top 200 college men’s players. Because men generally want to associate with highly competent winners, they tend to identify with men’s teams and male superstars.
February 29th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
The taps at the new place will feature four kinds of near beer.
February 29th, 2024 at 1:32 pm
My prediction is that they will need, and get, a crowd funding infusion to survive the early Fall until the PWHL starts up again. A couple of local stations will host watch parties for the first few games of the season before moving on to something else. If the bar survives through the 2024-2025 PWHL season I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
March 1st, 2024 at 5:50 am
As a former bartender who has worked in several Mpls bars (all blue collar/working man joints), a gimmick like this never ever sticks. Ever. The select crowd is far too few, and certainly not the chronic bar fly crowd that keeps a place going, regardless of all the ‘popular current’ bullshit.
I give it 10 months. Maybe.
March 1st, 2024 at 6:18 am
I have to agree with Starbuck. Most likely, this bar will only attract the LGBTQ crowd and their minions.
March 1st, 2024 at 6:31 am
Thanks Boss, but the problem is that the L has historically not gotten along with the G, and vice versa. Meanwhile, the B, T, and Q crowd seem interested in anything but sports, especially sports that have recently rejected the Lia crap.
So, that leaves the Ls. We shall see.
10 months. Max.
March 1st, 2024 at 7:03 am
Sure can learn a lot from SitD comments.
March 1st, 2024 at 8:06 am
If it works, good for them.
Not sure what people will think of the neighborhood.
March 1st, 2024 at 9:25 am
When I looked at the pictures of the “Sports Bra” in Portland, I was thinking exactly what Starbuck was saying. Broadening the demographics is going to be tough.
March 1st, 2024 at 12:16 pm
As a woman *******checks self…yup.***** I agree with Starbuck. Why not just open a bar for lesbians and have women’s sports playing in the background.
March 1st, 2024 at 12:59 pm
I might have the ladies reserve me a seat on the nights they feature the X-League bikini football. That’ll likely draw a bigger crowd on a regular basis than soccer ever will.
March 4th, 2024 at 7:05 am
I don’t think the problem with success will the people who want to be at a bar like this, or the neighborhood, or the sports shown. The problem is already the way they started the business – crowdfunding. I have known other niche businesses that have started via crowd funding – there was an East Side brewery many years ago “women owned” that was crowdfunded. I even knew the people who started it. I didn’t crowdfund them, but I intended to check them out. They closed before I ever got to the place.
Unfortunately, most of the time, if you don’t already have the capital, and you are unable to risk taking out a loan, the business is just not likely to succeed. Maybe it is because you have less personal investment to make it work? You don’t feel obligated to work as hard if it’s other people’s money? You feel like you’ll get sympathy from your investors (which you wouldn’t get from the bank) “It’s ok, you tried” *pat pat*.
I wish them success, though. Minneapolis is in need of more businesses. The main crowd I imagine are middle to older aged straight women and Lesbians. From those I know in that crowd, not big drinkers.
March 5th, 2024 at 6:34 am
^ Crowdfunding can work. Hayes Public House in Buffalo was crowdfunded and is still a going business.