During WNBA season, bars and restaurants say they saw greater customer demand for women's sports

CHICAGO (AP) — Josh Pehlke remembers having to beg and plead at bars and restaurants to get them to show WNBA games just a few years ago. Too often, the answer was a flat-out no.

These days, he doesn't have to worry as much.

As the general manager at Signature Bar & Restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood, about a 3-point shot from the Chicago Sky’s home at Wintrust Arena, he has some say. But even when he's not at work, he has noticed a difference.

“I’ve been to Cubs games this season and gone into sports bars in Wrigleyville and found the WNBA on TV, whereas two or three years ago, that wasn’t happening,” Pehlke said.

The WNBA drew sellout crowds and unprecedented ratings in a transformational season that's winding down with a finals matchup between the New York Liberty, seeking their first title, and the Minnesota Lynx going for their record fifth. The best-of-five series opened Thursday with Minnesota rallying to beat New York in overtime.

Whether it was Indiana's Caitlin Clark and Chicago's Angel Reese taking their captivating rivalry from college to the pros, Simone Biles capturing more gold at the Olympics or 92,003 fans packing Nebraska's football stadium for a volleyball game, women's sports in general are drawing more eyeballs.

Sports bars and restaurants are taking note, adjusting their marketing and menus in order to attract a wider range of customers. At least some say they're seeing an increased demand for women's sports on their TVs, though the evidence is more anecdotal than statistical. A handful catering specifically to women's sports have opened in recent years, such as The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon.

Either way, fans have options if they want to grab a bite and a drink and watch a game away from home.

”You’ll see small groups of women coming out to watch the actual sports,” Bar Louie CEO Brian Wright said. “And you see a lot of men requesting women’s sports now. So it’s kind of an entire paradigm shift of how women’s sports are being viewed. You very seldom saw a group of men coming in saying, ‘Can you put on that WNBA game?’ Now, that’s really becoming commonplace.”

Bar Louie has restaurants in 21 states from coast to coast and as many as 20 TVs per location. As for how many are tuned to each specific sport, Wright said there's no real science in determining that. But he is sure of a few things.

The chain is attracting a greater percentage of female customers. And when Clark or Reese were playing, that was good for business. Their NCAA Tournament games the past two years, for example, created about a 10% bump in business.

At Twin Peaks, where most locations have 16 satellites and 75 TVs, the clientele skews about 80% male, CEO Joe Hummel said. But the gender gap is narrowing.

“Five years ago we might not have advertised or pushed women’s March Madness,” Hummel said.

The company evaluates the schedule every day to determine how many TVs will be tuned to each game. The restaurants can adjust based on news and customer demand, which is key. Hummel said Twin Peaks does not track how many TVs are tuned to specific events or customers requesting to sit where they can see a particular game.

“It'd be very difficult,” he said. “Our operators have a lot of communication back and forth with the guest and if we inundated our operators -- you have to track this, this and this all the time -- they would end up worrying about the stats and not even taking care of the guests.”

Nicole Bond, associate director of marketing strategy at Mintel Comperemedia, said research shows 71% of consumers believe women’s sports will continue to grow in popularity. She sees it up close in her side job as a bartender at Bernie's Tap & Grill near Wrigley Field in Chicago.

“Men are leaning into women’s athletics,” said Bond, a former Northwestern softball player. “And I hear the conversations that you hear them having about what’s happening in the W, or what’s happening in the NWSL or whatever it is. It’s become really interesting and like a norm in bar conversations. I think people are wanting to watch those games and groups just like you do when you bring people in for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup.”

Pehlke became a WNBA fan about a decade ago and started following the Sky when they added Chicago-area product Candace Parker prior to the 2021 championship season. He grew up a Los Angeles Lakers fan in northern Wisconsin.

Pehlke, whose friend has season tickets, is a regular at Wintrust Arena for Sky games. He even collects WNBA trading cards.

Signature, which is owned by former Bears defensive lineman Israel Idonije, opened in January. There are 13 TVs on the walls, with 10 tuned to the WNBA on a Friday night near the end of the regular season. Six were showing the Sky's game at Minnesota.

During the playoffs, Pehlke said, the restaurant saw more requests for TVs to be tuned to the WNBA. He was expecting an uptick in business, too.

“Demand has been outstanding this entire playoffs,” he said. “I was very happy to see that it wasn’t just for the Fever games, but seemingly for all of the games.”

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Minnesota Lynx's Alanna Smith, left, shoots against New York Liberty's Jonquel Jones, right, during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Minnesota Lynx's Courtney Williams, left, reacts after scoring during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the New York Liberty, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

New York Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot (22) and Breanna Stewart (30) react after Steward scored a 3-point basket during the second half in Game 2 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series against the Minnesota Lynx, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

Josh Pehlke works the bar at Signature Bar & Restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood near the Chicago Sky’s home at Wintrust Arena sit at the bar as Game 2 of the WNBA finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx is shown on a TV on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. Pehlke, Signature's general manager, says the restaurant is getting more requests for TVs tuned to the WNBA. (AP Photo/Andrew Seligman)

Customers at Signature Bar & Restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood near the Chicago Sky’s home at Wintrust Arena sit at the bar as Game 2 of the WNBA finals between the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx is shown on a TV on Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. The WNBA drew sellout crowds and unprecedented ratings in a transformational season. Sports-oriented bars and restaurants are taking note. Some say they’re seeing an increased demand for women’s sports on their TVs. (AP Photo/Andrew Seligman)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A former porn shop worker who was accused by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of defamation has asked a court to throw out the lawsuit claim against him, calling the politician's allegations “bizarre” and his demand for at least $50 million in damages a violation of civil court rules.

Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor, filed a lawsuit in Wake County court Tuesday against CNN and Louis Love Money, of Greensboro, saying they published “disgusting lies" about him.

The lawsuit identified a CNN report last month that Robinson made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago. Weeks before CNN's report, Money alleged in a music video and in a media interview that for several years starting in the 1990s, Robinson frequented a porn shop Money was working at, and that Robinson purchased porn videos from him.

Attorneys for Money, in filing a dismissal motion Wednesday, said that Robinson’s lawsuit violated a procedural rule that requires that a person seeking punitive damages state initially a demand for monetary damages “in excess of $25,000.”

The motion said the rule is designed to “prevent excess demands from leaking publicly in the media and tainting the judicial process.” Violating the rule, attorneys Andrew Fitzgerald and Peter Zellmer wrote, may “have been for the very purpose of creating media attention for Mr. Robinson’s campaign.”

Otherwise, the attorneys also are seeking a dismissal on the grounds that the allegations in the lawsuit, even if they were true, fail to establish a cause of action against Money.

“The complaint contains many impertinent and bizarre allegations," they wrote.

Asked for a response to the motion, Robinson's campaign referred to Tuesday’s news release announcing the lawsuit. In it, Robinson said assertions from "grifters like Louis Love Money are salacious tabloid trash.”

Money on Tuesday said he stood by what he had said as truthful. CNN declined to comment on the lawsuit when it was filed and had not responded to it in court as of Thursday.

Robinson is running against Democratic nominee Josh Stein in the campaign to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

The CNN report led many fellow GOP elected officials and candidates, including presidential nominee Donald Trump, to distance themselves from Robinson’s gubernatorial campaign. Most of the top staff running Robinson’s campaign and his lieutenant governor’s office quit following the CNN report, and the Republican Governors Association stopped supporting Robinson’s bid.

The network report said it matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN also reported that details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.

The lawsuit alleges that CNN published its report despite knowing, or recklessly disregarding, that Robinson's personal data was previously compromised by data breaches.

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks at a news conference in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Attorney Jesse Binnall, right, speaks at a news conference, with his client North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, left, in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)

Former porn shop worker wants defamation lawsuit by North Carolina lieutenant governor dismissed

Former porn shop worker wants defamation lawsuit by North Carolina lieutenant governor dismissed

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson arrives at a news conference in Raleigh, N.C., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Karl B DeBlaker)