That buzz in the air? It’s The University of Texas at Austin’s women’s basketball team.
The Longhorns are headed to their fourth Sweet 16 appearance in five years this weekend, taking on Tennessee after beating Illinois 65-48 earlier this week. The success of the team, which was ranked No. 1 on the Associated Press’s poll for the first time in 21 years last month, couldn’t come at a better time. Women’s sports popularity is exploding, and in Austin, the city's — and state’s — first ever women’s sports bar opened just in time for the Longhorns to dominate March Madness.
“It's this convergence of amazingness that we hope to put on TV and let everyone share in,” 1972 Co-founder Debra Hallum said. The bar will be serving brunch when the Longhorns play Tennessee on March 29.
The 1972 opened its spot on the Drag in West Campus earlier this month, which makes sense – UT fans are part of the reason Hallum thinks the bar will work in Austin.
“We are confident that this will be a community space,” Hallum said, adding that she hopes the bar will help grow the fanbase for women’s sports, too, to families, men, women, and everyone else.
Creating a women’s sports bar for Austin has been a long time coming. With no dedicated space for women’s sports, Hallum says women have found it nearly impossible to watch women’s games at one of Austin’s many sports bars.
“We heard all the time when we were doing pop-ups these last eight or nine months. It was so frustrating. You couldn’t get a women’s game on the television. You could ask for it, or beg for it, and they might put it on the screen and say, ‘Sure.’ But then you couldn’t get sound,” Hallum said.
With 1972, Hallum hopes that kind of experience disappears – all TVs will play women’s sports all the time.
“I think it’s important to have this space owned by women (and be) for women, so that women know they’re welcome here and comfortable and can watch,” Hallum said.
