Interest in women’s sports is rapidly growing, with WNBA Finals viewership at a 25-year high, the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) championship game being the highest-viewed championship game in the league’s history, and the 2024 women’s NCAA championship game beating the men’s in viewers, to name a few data points. Not to mention the countless times that the New York Liberty’s mascot Ellie has gone viral.
If that sounds like your algorithm and you’ve been dying for a place to watch the games locally, you’re in luck — Blazers (named for trailblazing women in sports) will soon be taking over the former home of comedy club Old Man Hustle at 308 Bedford Avenue. But don’t expect a run-of-the-mill sports bar as they’ve come to be stereotypically known.
Caroline Kane, Chandler Robertson, and Debany Dávila — who bonded over their interest in the Liberty, among other things, and had their first official meeting about the bar in January 2024 — are the co-owners of Blazers, and their aim is for women’s sports fans to not just feel tolerated, but welcomed, prioritized, and at the center of the action.
“We wanna stand for something bigger. We don’t just want to open up a women’s sports bar; we really want to be a community bar and highlight women’s sports,” Dávila, who played college basketball and is now part of the NYC Pride Basketball League, explained.
“What we’re trying to do is also create a space for folks to maybe feel a bit differently when they’re watching sports. I think a lot of the people who prioritize watching women’s sports in their lives have felt that typical sports bars were not the place for them,” Robertson added. “So we’re trying to create a space that really feels welcoming to that community and can be a place where you wanna come and watch women’s sports because you know it’s gonna be uplifted with folks that maybe live in your neighborhood and identify with or have similar interests as you.”
This goal has made the trio incredibly intentional in their approach to the space, which already housed a built-out bar, but has been upgraded and renovated to suit their vision. One new addition is a mural from LA-based artist Corie Mattie — the painter behind murals of Billie Jean King and Megan Rapinoe at California’s first women’s sports bar, Watch Me! — who Robertson met by chance while visiting said bar.
“The universe has been going in our favor, and we feel like it really is just because this space is needed and we’re so lucky to be the ones to make it come to life,” Dávila noted.
The menu has also been approached with intentionality. While the food program will feature typical bar fare like wings and fries, there will also be homages to Dávila’s Mexican heritage through chips and guacamole, Mexican hot dogs, churros, and panchos (loaded nachos). Robertson, who is heading up the drink offerings, is working on a curated cocktail list not often associated with sports bars.
“We still want this place to feel like somewhere you could come after work or to meet with a friend for a high-quality beverage with your food,” she explained.
There will still be a wide selection of beer, as well as mocktails. And the cocktail names, of course, will be inspired by women’s sports, with the signature Trailblazer being their take on a spicy marg.
Ultimately, building a community within the community is at the heart of what Blazers is meant to be (Robertson actually used to live a few doors down from the address), which will include connecting with local sports leagues and intramural clubs to offer a place to unwind and, ideally, watch a great game.
But don’t worry, there’s no athleticism required.
“I grew up in sports,” Dávila said. “And now we’re seeing this shift to where there’s spaces for all of us and everyone wants to watch women’s sports. It’s not just people like me that have played, but it’s the fact that we all want to root for women and we want to have designated spaces for it and we want to live in a world that where that’s our normal.”
“If a sports bro wants to come in here and root for women’s sports, we’re happy to have them,” Robertson said. “But we also want to make sure that the not-so-typical sports fans feel like this is their space where they can get rowdy and feel like they have a home here.”
The trio is hoping to have Blazers open before the end of the year, and are accepting donations to help fund the project and hit their goals as work is ongoing.
Donations can be made here.
Fair enough. Nothing wrong with this. I especially like the phrase, “If a sports bro wants to come in here and root for women’s sports, we’re happy to have them,” Very objective.
However, normally where there are women in a bar, men will follow. Toxic wokers who perverted the original seminal work of the female equality movement circa 1980s have managed to do in app. 40 yrs., what mankind could not do in app. 4,000k yrs, kill all relationships between men and women from romance, dating, sex, marriage kids and yes watching female sports in a bar unfortunately.
Added “bonus”? Election of the predator, demagogue, threat to democracy King Trump.