Level Sporting Club: Chicago’s New Women’s Sports Bar
Steps from Wrigley Field, Level Sporting Club is creating an “inclusive, high-energy” space designed by women who know the game.
Featured Image: Founder and CEO Clarissa Flores. Photo courtesy of Level Sporting Club
If you’ve ever walked into a sports bar hoping to catch a women’s game, only to be met with twelve screens of men’s highlights, a suspicious smell of stale beer, and the lingering sense that you are somehow on the away team, Chicago has some good news for you.
Opening in late April near Wrigley Field, Level Sporting Club is a new women’s sports bar designed very intentionally for the fans who have spent years watching from the margins. The 5,632-square-foot space at 3343 N. Clark St., just a short drive from Lesbianville, aka Andersonville, will seat nearly 200 guests across two levels, blending a homey vintage aesthetic upstairs with a lounge-style energy downstairs. There will be plenty of TVs, events, community programming, and even the occasional piano sing-along. In other words, a sports bar that understands that vibes are part of the infrastructure.
Related: Babe’s Sports Bar: A New Clubhouse For Women’s Sports In Chicago
That word, infrastructure, comes up a lot when founder and CEO Clarissa Flores talks about the project. A former Division I basketball player at Northwestern and a longtime hospitality professional (she currently serves as Director of Operations for Tao Group Hospitality), Flores has spent years working in nightlife and events. Level, she says, is where all of those paths finally meet.
“I’ve spent more than two decades in hospitality, and as a former athlete, building something that connects my professional journey with the game that gave me so much is deeply personal,” Flores tells GO. “Women’s sports have had momentum for years. Today, we’re seeing record viewership, sold-out arenas, and historic investment, but the infrastructure hasn’t caught up yet. My mission is to help build that infrastructure by creating a space rooted in visibility, celebration, and community.”
That intention is felt most clearly in what she hopes guests experience the second they arrive. “I want them to feel welcomed, at home, and proud to be part of something intentionally built to elevate women’s sports,” she says.
And Chicago, famously subtle about its love of sports, felt like an obvious place to do it. The city welcomed Babe’s Sports Bar, which opened in Fall 2025 in Logan Square, with open arms. “This city shows up for sports in a powerful way, and women’s sports deserve that same spotlight,” Flores says. For now, the focus is on the final stretch before opening. “We are currently targeting a late-April opening, and most of the work happening now is cosmetic as we prepare to bring the space to life.”
Related: New Women’s Sports Bar To Open In Philly
Choosing Wrigleyville was no accident either. As one of the country’s most recognizable sports corridors and neighboring the vibrant Northalsted queer community, the location puts women’s sports exactly where they belong: “at the center of the conversation, not on the sidelines.”
Who’s behind this impact is even more meaningful. “Our leadership and investor team is proudly made up of all queer women, and together we’re creating an inclusive, high-energy space that reflects Chicago’s deep sports culture while celebrating the powerful momentum surrounding women’s sports today.”
If you’re wondering whether another women’s sports bar in the city might mean competition, Flores’ answer is refreshingly simple: the more, the better. Supporting existing spaces is part of the mission. A whole ecosystem of bars dedicated to women’s sports? Hell yeah. That’s the dream.
Of course, no sports bar revolution is complete without food and drinks worth showing up early for. Flores partnered with Chef Amanda Barnes—who has earned two Bib Gourmand recognitions—to create what she calls an “elevated sports-bar menu with personality.”
Related: Blazers, A New Women’s Sports Bar, Is Opening In Brooklyn
“Guests can expect playful standouts like our ‘Shewich,’ a wagyu ribeye spin on the classic Manwich sandwich, crab rangoon mozzarella sticks, and what we believe will be one of the best smash burgers in Chicago,” she says. Behind the bar, the drinks are just as intentional. “One of our signature cocktails will be the ‘La Mala,’ a tamarind mezcalita that’s bold, vibrant, and unforgettable—much like the energy of women’s sports themselves.”
Level Sporting Club also grows out of Flores’ broader work building queer community, including co-founding the Lesbian Social Club and Dirty Matriarch, organizations known for producing large-scale LGBTQ+ events across the country. In many ways, the bar feels like a natural next step: not just a place to watch sports, but a place to gather, cheer, and be visible while doing it.
And if you’re looking for a job, they’re hiring.
Mostly, though, Level represents something simpler and more powerful: the feeling of finally walking into a sports bar and knowing, without explanation, that you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.
Keep up with Level Sporting Club at levelsportingclub.com and @levelsportingclub.
