When you walk into Title 9 Sports Grill in Phoenix's Melrose District, its mission to be a haven for watching women's sports permeates every nook and cranny. From the over dozen TVs mounted on pink and orange walls to the “Play Like a Girl!” neon sign against a giant image of retired WNBA star Diana Taurasi.
It's an impressive turnaround for co-owners Audrey Corley and Kat Moore. Just before Christmas, the space was still Moore and her husband Brad's hot dog restaurant. But last summer they sold the business and the new owners didn't want to stay in the property. That's when Corley, who owns a popular lesbian bar on the next block, proposed partnering on the city's first women's sports-centric bar. She had been mulling the idea since reading about the Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, which opened in 2022, and then seeing a half-dozen similar bars emerge in the last year.
