The Ladies League closes: Owners reveal sad reason for shutting first ever women’s sports bar

The first ever women’s sports bar to open in Australia has closed its doors just five months after its highly anticipated launch due to cost of living pressures.

The Ladies League, located on Oxford Street in Sydney, opened in August 2024 to present live women’s sports matches and replays of women’s matches.

However, in a shock announcement on Wednesday, the venue explained it was canceling the last drinks and closing for good.

“It is with a heavy heart that we will not reopen the doors of The Ladies League,” The Ladies League wrote on Instagram.

‘We excelled as a women’s sports bar. Anyone who has attended a Matildas, Sydney FC, Grand Final match day etc at our venue will know what a show we can put on.

‘Unfortunately, outside of the live games, we have felt the struggle just as much as many other hospitality venues in this economic climate.

“While we already knew that cost of living pressures are impacting customer spending, we wanted to do this for the visibility of women’s sport.

“We knew we had a great product to offer, but unfortunately as a small company we could no longer sustain trying new approaches.”

The Ladies League apologized to its patrons and shared its gratitude to those who helped open the bar.

It added that the closure of the Ladies League should not deter others from wanting to open a women’s sports bar.

‘We hope this doesn’t deter anyone from opening a similar concept in the future. The support we felt from the community was amazing,” it wrote.

“It is unfortunately a harsh reality of how people choose to spend their money at this stage.

‘Thank you to everyone who visited us or showed support online.’

Rose Valente, 34, founded sports bar The Ladies League in August 2024 after successfully launching a digital sports publication of the same name.

Ms Valente previously explained that the venture was ‘risky’, but used all her savings and even sold her investment properties to finance the bar.

the venue explained that it was canceling the last drinks and closing due to the cost of living pressures felt by the hospitality industry

Founder Rose Valente (pictured) opened the bar in August 2024 to present live women’s sports matches and replays of women’s matches

Located in the heart of Darlinghurst, the bar was a two-storey venue decorated in a black and pink color scheme and able to accommodate 80 seated patrons.

Loyal readers and other supporters of the venue’s concept helped Ms. Valente raise enough money to help open the bar.

Many spent money on foundation memberships, which got their names written on the upper walls of the bar.

Others donated money by sponsoring parts of the bar, including tables, benches and toilet stalls.

Matildas and Melbourne Victory midfielder Alex Chidiac contacted Ms Valente and sponsored one of the bar’s benches.

The bar also received donations from Aussies, with one Instagram follower giving the venue a signed Australian women’s cricket shirt.

Ms Valente explained that the Ladies League aimed to show live women’s sports matches and replays of women’s matches, as coverage of women’s sports in Australia only took up 12 to 15 percent of screen time.

The venue featured six TVs and a big screen with a viewing lounge upstairs and a bar area downstairs.

Ms Valente said the bar was also open to men and would be willing to show men’s sporting events if that would be of interest to the venue’s visitors.

It comes as small businesses across the country are being forced to close due to an industry-wide crisis involving labor shortages, staff costs, rising inflation and a lack of customer spending.

Credit reporting agency CreditorWatch found that smaller catering companies were in trouble.

In its March report, it claimed one in 13 small hospitality businesses would go out of business during Australia’s current economic crisis.