Not your average sports bar
Women’s sports bars—often described by owners as both a passion project and a commercial venture—are perfectly suited to this growing demand. One last March Analysis by NBC News found that the number of women’s sports bars in the U.S. had quadrupled by the end of the year, from six to about 24 in 16 U.S. states. In New York alone, several women’s sports bars have opened in recent months, including Athena Keke’s and Blazers in Brooklyn — and of course Wilka’s, which is located in Lower Manhattan and first opened in August.
On a Friday night in late March, Wika was packed with people—mostly women, but also some men and non-binary individuals—watching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup between the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers and the UCLA Bruins on a row of TVs along the wall. Most were clustered around the center of the bar for the best possible view. “Everybody’s Watching Women’s Sports,” proclaimed the shirt of a passing server.
While Wilka looks and functions in many ways like your average sports bar (minus the sticky floors, lingering odors, and cramped atmosphere—refreshingly spacious!), the women’s sports-centric decor is perhaps the most obvious feature that sets it apart: framed New York Liberty jerseys in the franchise’s colors and iconic black and white; a Liberty brand candle on the bookshelf; and bobblehead dolls of hockey player Micah Zandee-Hart and basketball legend Lauren Jackson stood sentinel in front of the colorful spikes on the same bookshelf. Two titles written by WNBA legends immediately jumped out: “The Can-Do Mindset: How to Cultivate Resilience, Follow Your Heart, and Fight for Your Passions” (two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker) and “Dear Black Girls: How to Be True to You” by the Las Vegas Aces. It’s Wilson.
In the bathroom, there were stickers on the wall promoting not only the Liberty, but also the New York Sirens, the women’s hockey team; Gotham FC, a women’s soccer team from New York; and Peerlessa Miami-based women’s basketball league that has Reese and Bueckers on its 2026 roster. “Love who you want and watch women’s sports,” read another sticker.
McKenna was one of the bartenders working the NCAA tournament that night, frantically mixing drinks to keep up with demand. With Wilka, “every day we prove and show that women’s sports matter, even from an economic point of view,” she said. And economy is more important than ever, especially for athletes. Women’s basketball players — the most successful female athletes in team sports — command only a fraction of the performance of their male counterparts, which Reese, Clark, Bueckers and other players have discussed. Change may be slow, but it’s hard to deny the energy of women’s sports is “so good,” said one customer, Sam Hankins, 43, an Upper Manhattan resident who uses her pronouns. “How can you be not be in it?”
