OMAHA (KMTV) — A women's sports bar is coming to Omaha, a result of the surging popularity of women's sports in the metro and nationwide.
- Women's sports have seen increased viewership in the last several years.
- Molly Huyck and Amy Hannesson are working on opening a women's sports bar in Benson called 'Set the Bar.'
- This will be the first bar of its kind in the state of Nebraska, and follows several others that have popped up across the country.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
It’s no secret the interest in women’s sports is continuing to grow, and we’re seeing a result of that right here in the Metro.
In Benson, two women are working on opening a women’s sports bar, a first of its kind in the state and seventh in the country.
Sports are already a major part of Molly Huyck and Amy Hannesson’s lives.
"I've always been a fan," Huyck said. "I’ve had season tickets to Creighton women’s basketball for 20 years, but over the last two years it’s especially exploded. The quality of the product is at par with men’s sports, and I think people are catching on."
"I have two daughters, I also have two sons," Hannesson said. "That’s my favorite place to be is to watch them on the pitch, and watch them on the court."
We’re seeing the growth of women’s sports right here in the Cornhusker State: from Volleyball Day in Nebraska, to Caitlin Clark helping sell out PBA, to the Omaha Supernovas winning the first pro volleyball championship.
"Nebraska has the best fans supporting women’s sports so let’s make it happen," Huyck said.
And ‘it’ is a women’s sports bar in Benson called Set the Bar.
"Set can mean ‘game, set, match,’ it can mean set point, setting the ball," Hannesson said. "We really want to set the bar, and have that bar be high for women’s sports.
"We had heard of a couple that had already popped up on the west coast. Molly went out and visited them and was just amazed by what they were doing for the community and how everybody was coming together. And as we saw the momentum of women’s sports shift and really turn into a movement, we realized that now is the time."
That movement can be seen in other areas of sports as well.
Erin Sorensen teaches sports journalism at UNL and has covered the Huskers for more than a decade.
"I have more women in my sportswriting class than I have in the three years I’ve been teaching," she said. "I believe if you can see it, you can be it, and they’re seeing it more and more and they’re showing up and they’re taking up space. And I think that that trajectory is growing, especially as we see more people investing in it."
The evidence is in the numbers. Nielsen research found viewership for the women’s NCAA basketball final beat the men’s final for the first time ever by nearly five million.
"Interest in women’s sports is not ‘either or,’ it’s ‘both and,’ Betsy Emmons, Associate Professor of Sports Promotion at UNL, said. "But fans have said if the media will cover it, we will watch it. And so the hope is that with our increased access to various media channels, that we’ll have the opportunity to watch the women’s sports teams that we want to."
And that’s exactly what Amy and Molly want: a place that provides more access to women’s sports.
"We want to uplift and support our local women athletes, and we hope that the community comes out and celebrates them with us," Hanneson said.
Amy and Molly tell us they will be showing men’s sports events as well.
They’re working on scheduling some pop ups, with the goal being to open in time for the women’s NCAA volleyball tournament.
