Watch Party PHL eyeing spring 2026 to open a ‘women’s sports hub’ in Philadelphia
Founder Jen Leary has hosted monthly events to watch women’s sports and seen a large amount of support from the community. She hopes to open a sports bar before the 2026 summer festivities.
Watch Party PHL began as a monthly event at local sports bars to bring together women’s sports fans in the Philadelphia area and grew into a community staple.
Soon, it will have a permanent location.
Watch Party founder Jen Leary wanted a safe and inclusive place to watch women’s sporting events — with audio on. She found that sports bars rarely showed women’s sports, and when they did, the sound would be muted.
Since spring 2024, Watch Party has cycled through locations in the area, hosting events that often feature the WNBA, tennis, and women’s college basketball. Leary, who’s also a Philly firefighter, aims to have three events a month, a balance between community demand but not too many events to overwhelm the regulars.
Now that Leary’s watch parties have grown in popularity, she has her eyes set on the next milestone — a brick-and-mortar location.
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“It’s not going to be just a bar. It’s more of a women’s sports hub,” Leary said. “We really want it to be the premier spot for women’s sports in Philly.”
Her vision? Cafe by day, bar by night.
Leary wants a restaurant atmosphere, a family-friendly space where people can work remotely and support a women-led business.
“Instead of ESPN, we’ll have women’s sports networks,” Leary said. “People can come to stay up-to-date with women’s sports news. We will play men’s sports — we’re going to play the Eagles because we all bleed green here. We want to support local college sports, so that includes men’s sports.”
The other goal of Watch Party was to prove to the WNBA that a franchise could thrive in Philly. Now that the league has announced the addition of a Philly team in 2030, Leary’s goal has evolved to preparing the fan base and keeping the momentum going for the next five years.
“We want to be able to support the owners of this new team in any way we can, so we’re putting our feelers out to let them know that we’re here to support them,” Leary said. “We’re here to help with the fandom part of it and bringing the community together to support their efforts. We’re definitely trying to build more partnerships with organizations who we think will get more eyes on what we’re doing, so when the W’s looking for a place, they’ll hear our name and know this is the spot.”
Leary is planning for Watch Party’s physical location to open sooner than she expected. They are still searching for a property and eyeing buildings near Midtown Village and the Gayborhood.
After initially targeting summer 2026, the new timeline is spring, months earlier than anticipated, she said, and it is fueled by major sporting events coming to town, including the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, the PGA Championship, and the FIFA World Cup, as well as donations she has received.
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“We haven’t come up with a space yet,” she said. “We’ve been talking to investors and looking, but until we have enough capital, it’s hard to secure it. We want a centralized enough location where it’s not too horrible for anybody to get to. Somewhere where there’s plenty of parking so it’s super accessible. We really want to make it inviting for people.”
She said the current setup, moving location to location for each event, is teaching her a lot about what she wants in her space.
Watch Party also releases a monthly Philly-centric podcast, in which it interviews women in sports and the community that supports them. Leary hopes to have a podcasting booth in the sports bar, to bring guests in, and to support community members who are using it as a coworking space.
Leary has had more than 300 people at Watch Party’s events, and she hopes to highlight the history of women’s sports in Philly at the bar, so it’s not lost on today’s young people.
“There are so many Philly connections in basketball, specifically women’s,” Leary said. “When we open the watch bar, a big part of it is telling the history. We’re going to have a mural of women’s sports history.”