PHOENIX – Women’s sports are rising in popularity and two local bar owners are capitalizing on the trend. 

Their latest venture, called Title 9 Sports Grill will be Phoenix’s first female sports bar, just one of a dozen in the country. 

From Coco Gauff to Simone Biles, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, to Katie Ledecky and Serena Williams; 2024 was the year of the female athlete. 

As women’s sports rise in popularity, fans are finding a slight problem: There’s nowhere to watch them. 

“It’s very hard to go, ‘Hey can you change that channel?’ Most people are like, ‘You want to watch the girls game?’ Yeah,” said Audrey Corley. 

Corley is one of two co-owners of Title 9 Sports Grill and the owner of Short Leash Hotdogs and Taproom. Kathryn Moore is the other co-owner and both former athletes themselves. 

When they were presented with an opportunity to open a new venture in the Melrose District, they decided to join a new, niche trend of female sports bars. 

The first ever was launched in 2022 in Portland, Oregon dubbed “The Sports Bra.” 

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Title 9, located on 7th Avenue and Indian School Road, will be the nation’s 13th iteration of the concept and the first of its kind in the southwest. 

“So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve had so many women reach out and say they’re excited and finally and they can’t wait. Even men, a lot of fathers say they really want a place for their kids to go, their young girls to go,” said  Moore. 

The owners are spending the next month remodeling Short Leash, which closes this month. 

Now, patrons will be greeted with black and white photos of famous female athletes, trophies and walls of TV’s. 

“It’s long overdue. My whole life, athletics has been important and I can’t wait to have a space with women who come in and want to learn about sports. This is just going to be a place where people meet and congregate for the love of sports,” says Corley. 

When you visit Title 9 Sports Grill, you’ll notice that women’s sports have priority, but women want to see men’s sports, too. The owners say there will be a good mix. 

All ages are welcome and parents of young female athletes are encouraged to bring their girls to chow down on their grilled specialties after games. 

Title 9 is slated to open around the end of January.