PHOENIX (AP) — 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.

“Then I see, you know, another one popped up here and another one. And then I was like, it’s just time. It has to be,” Corley said before Title 9’s grand opening earlier this month.

Several new bars dedicated to women’s sports have made the mad dash to open in time to capitalize on March Madness, now in full swing. From San Francisco to Cleveland, there will be more than a dozen across the country before the year is over. The femme-focused bar scene has made huge strides from three years ago when The Sports Bra was the only one. It comes during an exciting first year during which teams in the women’s bracket will finally be paid for playing in the NCAA tourney. Many credit stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese for increasing the marketability of female players.

Last season, Reese and Clark’s teams never saw a dollar. Now, the women’s teams will finally earn individual revenue, known as “units.” A unit is money paid to conferences when one of its teams appears in the NCAA Tournament. Teams earn another with every game played.

The most seamless part of transforming her old restaurant into Title 9 has been the built-in community anticipation of having a place to view women’s sports, Moore said.

“The only question I’ve gotten from quite a few men, especially when we first started telling people, was, ‘Are men allowed?’ Yeah!” Moore said, with a chuckle.

Named for the landmark 1972 law that forbids discrimination based on sex in education, including athletics, Title 9 is filled with tributes to female athletes, from framed photos with QR codes to a cocktail roster with drinks such as the Pat Summitt Sour and Taurasi Goat-Tail. However, the owners emphasize a family-friendly atmosphere where young girls can come celebrate after a school game.

“Even some of the little girls, they could come here and dream of being on the TV someday and actually getting paid for it,” Corley said.

Debra Hallum and Marlene du Plessis were also inspired by the Sports Bra. They made their targeted opening in Austin last week of 1972 ATX Women’s Sports Pub across from the University of Texas campus. The day included a rainbow ribbon cutting and officials from the Austin LGBT Chamber of Commerce.

While they are in a conservative state, the women have been emphasizing the bar’s LGBTQ-friendliness.