Not your average sports bar
Women’s sports bars—which are often framed by owners as a passion project as much as a commercial enterprise—meticulously cater to this growing demand. Last March, A NBC News analysis It found that the number of women’s sports bars in the United States was on track to quadruple by the end of the year, rising from six to about 24 in 16 US states. Several women’s sports bars have opened in New York City alone in recent months, including Athena Kiki Bar and Blazers in Brooklyn — and of course Wilka, which is located in lower Manhattan and first opened its doors in August.
On a Friday evening in late March, Wicca’s store was full of people — mostly women, but some men and nonbinary people as well — who were focused on a row of TVs along the wall broadcasting the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 showdown between the University of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers and the UCLA Bruins. Most of them are grouped around the center of the bar for the best possible visibility. “Everyone watches women’s sports,” proclaimed the passing valet’s T-shirt.
While Wilka looks and functions like your average sports bar in many respects (minus the sticky floors, constant smell, and cramped atmosphere — it’s refreshingly spacious!), its women’s sports-focused decor choices are probably its most obvious feature that sets it apart: New York Liberty jerseys framed in the franchise’s signature black, white, and foam green colors; A Liberty-branded candle on a bookshelf; And plush dolls of hockey player Micah Zandi Hart and basketball legend Lauren Jackson are stationed like sentinels in front of colorful spikes on the same bookshelf. Two titles written by WNBA legends immediately stand out: “The Can-Do Mindset: How to Cultivate Resilience, Follow Your Heart, and Fight for Your Passion” by retired two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker, and “Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You” by the Las Vegas Aces. Aja Wilson.
In the bathroom, there were posters taped to the wall promoting not only the Liberty, but also the New York Sirens women’s hockey team; Gotham FC, a women’s soccer team in the New York area; and peerlessa Miami-based women’s basketball league that has Reese and Bueckers on its 2026 roster. “Love whoever you want and watch women’s sports,” another poster read.
McKenna was one of the bartenders working during the NCAA tournament that night, frantically mixing drinks to keep up with demand. With Wilka, “we prove and show every day that women’s sports matter, even in economic terms,” she said. The economy is more important than ever, especially for athletes. Women’s basketball players — the most successful athletes in team sports — make only a fraction of what their male counterparts earn, a disparity that Reese, Clark, Bueckers and other players have talked about. Change may be slow, but it’s hard to deny that the energy surrounding women’s sports is “pretty good,” said one customer, Sam Hankins, 43, an upper Manhattan resident who uses “they/them” pronouns. “How could you no be in it?”
