The NCAA Women’s Final Four with increased viewership, record-breaking ticket sales, and standout performances from athletes like Caitlin Clark, kickstarted the long-overdue cultural appreciation and support of women’s sports. Denver’s newest sports bar, The 99ers, is dedicated to celebrating women’s athletics and is opening right in time to catch that wave. As The 99ers prepare to open in June at 909 E. Colfax Avenue, the owners hope their bar will serve as a space that continues to promote, celebrate, and showcase women’s athletics.
“We just want a space that is empowering to not only women but all people—a safe space that is very inclusive,” said co-owner Annie Weaver. “Obviously we’re broadcasting women’s sports for a reason. There needs to be more and more places where you can find them being broadcasted. It’s really hard to find in regular sports bars.”
The journey to opening The 99ers Sports Bar began when Weaver visited her brother in Portland, Oregon back in 2022. It was there she first encountered the concept at The Sports Bra.
“I went and visited and fell in love with the idea, and decided I really wanted to make something like that happen but, I knew I didn’t want to do it alone,” Weaver said.
Seeking a partner who shared her vision, Weaver crossed paths with Miranda Spencer, a fellow athlete and flag football teammate. The two quickly bonded over their love for sports and desire to create a welcoming space for all sports enthusiasts, especially women.
“I met Miranda and pitched the idea to her and I very quickly realized that we were kind of on the same page with a lot of things and came from similar backgrounds, and she fell in love with the concept as well,” Weaver said.
The bar is named in honor of the iconic 1999 U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, whose memorable World Cup victory inspired millions around the world.
Reflecting on the significance of the name, Spencer explained how the 1999 World Cup game—particularly Brandi Chastain’s iconic celebration—symbolized a pivotal moment for women’s sports.
“Anyone that watched the game could find something that they loved in that specific game, it was a kind of pivotal game for women, specifically, Brandi Chastain kind of obviously ruffled some feathers by ripping off her jersey at the end of the game,” Spencer said. “It has been kind of an inspiring journey as well. So many people have reached out to us that they were there, or they remember it, or just the connections that they have specifically to that game, even though it’s almost 25 years old since it was aired.”
The concept for The 99ers bar draws not only from this historic event but also from Weaver and Spencer’s personal experiences as athletes who often found themselves playing on boys’ teams due to the lack of opportunities for girls.
“As a child, being a professional women’s athlete wasn’t really a thing like it is today. You saw men everywhere. So in my mind, I thought that would never be an opportunity that I would have,” Spencer said. “Then as I got into adult life, even though the opportunity was there, it was almost like disrespectful, just in terms of what the women were making, what they were being treated as, and all of these things are coming out. So just to be a part of that movement, being able to watch young girls grow up into it and have much more access is everything.”
Recalling their frustrations as fans trying to watch women’s sports in traditional sports bars, Weaver and Spencer emphasized the importance of creating a space where women’s games are not only broadcasted but celebrated. Weaver said during March Madness she and Spencer took a break from the “chaos” of opening the bar to go watch a few games. As a big Iowa State fan, she was excited to watch the women play, only to be disappointed as they walked into a bar with over 20 TVs solely broadcasting the men’s games.
“I asked if they could change one tiny TV in the corner,—a lot of sports bars connect their TVs, so they’re paired with other TVs in the bar. If you change one, the other one has to be changed, and some man was watching a men’s game on the one it was paired to so they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, no, sorry. I can’t change it,’” Weaver said. “So I watched it on my phone and that was when we realized it’s worth the money that we’re spending to make sure all of our TVs can play something different.”
Looking ahead, Weaver and Spencer see the emergence of women’s sports bars like The 99ers as a positive sign of progress in recognizing women’s athletics. They believe that the growing interest in women’s sports and the increasing visibility of female athletes will continue to shape the landscape of sports culture.
“There aren’t enough women’s sports bars. The fact that you can go to any corner of major cities and find a sports bar that’s playing men’s sports and there are only a handful of women’s sports bars that are open across the country is insane. We need more of them all over the country,” Weaver said.
As they prepare to open their doors, Weaver and Spencer are excited to be part of this movement and look forward to the future of women’s sports bars and the role they play in the broader landscape of women’s athletics.
“I’m just hoping that our space, and all of the other women’s sports bars, help to continue to increase viewership, and keep that trend going in an upward direction because the more people are watching women’s sports, the more access there is, the more money that’s going into it, and then the more people understand the value of women’s sports,” Weaver said.