Before Clarissa Flores (Communication ’03) built a decades-long career in hospitality, she was a Division I basketball player at Northwestern. Now, the Chicago native is bringing her two worlds together as the founder of Level Sporting Club, an upcoming sports bar centered on women’s sports.
Slated to open in Wrigleyville in the spring, Flores said Level Sporting Club will join a growing movement of bars across the country dedicated to giving women’s sports a permanent home.
“(Wrigleyville) is the entertainment corridor of Chicago, and I’m taking my seat dead smack in the middle of that space,” Flores said. “I don’t want to be on the sidelines. I want to be in the middle of where we belong, and that’s in the middle of the entertainment corridor of Chicago.”
The Daily spoke with Flores about the inspiration behind Level, how her time at Northwestern shaped her path and what she hopes the space will bring to the Chicago sports community.
This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
The Daily: What was your inspiration for founding Level Sporting Club?
Flores: It was a little bit of a no-brainer for me. I’ve been in hospitality now for two decades, and sports has always been my passion. As you know, I played basketball at Northwestern. The game of basketball, I’m forever indebted to the game. Where I’m at in my life right now is because of basketball and the sport itself, so for me to bring two passions together in hospitality and sports, it was a no-brainer.
I saw the first-ever women’s sports bar open up a few years ago named The Sports Bra, and when I saw them open, they were talking about it on social media. Immediately, I knew. I was like, ‘That’s exactly what I want to do,’ and here I am a few years later.
The Daily: What made you want to open a women’s sports bar, and why did now feel like the right time to do that?
Flores: For me, I think the most important thing is women’s sports. The fandom and the support has always been there. I kind of always refer back to when I played at Whitney Young for my city championship game in 1997. I played in front of (thousands of) people in 1997. The support has been there, but really what has not been there for women’s sports is the infrastructure and a permanent brick-and-mortar space. It lacks. I love to see how so many new women’s sports bars are popping up, not only in the Midwest, but all over the country. So, I’m doing that for the visibility of women’s sports and so it can continue to progress. I just want to prove that women’s sports can definitely anchor an entire business.
The Daily: What do you hope this space adds to Chicago’s women’s sports community?
Flores: I just hope it adds a place where someone can now wake up and, instead of saying, ‘Hmm, where can I go where they’re going to show this woman’s game?’ and have to go walk in and ask the bartender, ‘Hey, can you put this game on?’ or ask the server, ‘Hey, can you put this game on?’ — I want this to be where they wake up, and they know exactly where they’re going to watch a women’s game.
Even going back to the ’90s, when they had the U.S. soccer team (play in the) sold-out Rose Bowl. 90,000 people. The Caitlin game. The most-ever-watched NCAA game, men’s or women’s. We’re breaking records. We’re breaking attendance records. And yet there’s no permanent structure, so when someone is making plans the day before or that morning, they know exactly where they’re going. And I want Levels to be that go-to spot.
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