A Win for Women’s Sports

Clarissa Flores ’01 doesn’t mind competition.  

This spring, the former Wildcats women’s basketball player opened Level Sporting Club, a sports bar in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood. While the area boasts more than 45 other watering holes, Level does something none of the other bars do. It’s leveling the playing field by “building a home for women’s sports,” says Flores, a former Wildcat women’s basketball player. “This is bigger than a movement. This is a cultural shift.” 

Level joins a small but growing contingent of similar establishments both in Chicago and around the country. According to NBC News, the number of women’s sports–focused venues was projected to quadruple nationally in 2025, coinciding with a boom in pro and collegiate women’s sports viewership. Flores is excited to see that number continue to grow.  

“If two or three more opened up on this block, that would be amazing,” she says. “Can you imagine the amount of traffic we’d get here from having multiple women’s sports bars in the area?” 

For Flores, Level isn’t about capitalizing on a trend but offering something fans have been seeking for a long time. “The fandom, the crowd, the support for women’s sports have been there,” she says. “The infrastructure has not.” 

Level is located just blocks from Wrigley Field. That’s on purpose, says Flores, who has spent two decades working in Chicago’s hospitality and nightlife scene. “Wrigleyville is the entertainment corridor of Chicago, so why not?” she says. “We belong at the center of the stage. We belong at the center of this conversation.” 

Flores wants Level to be a gathering place where fans can embrace their passion for women’s sports together. 

“First and foremost, I want someone to walk in here and feel at home,” she says. “Secondly, I want everyone who walks through this door to feel the energy and passion for women’s sports. That energy is second to none.” 

Creating welcoming spaces for communities that haven’t always had them is a theme in Flores’ career. As co-founder of the Lesbian Social Club in Chicago and the Detroit-based event-planning group Dirty Matriarch, Flores has helped put on events and parties geared toward queer women. 

“Giving visibility to these communities that deserve so much more, it’s a mission for me,” she says. 

This mission has earned Flores recognition in her own right: She was invited to throw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs’ Pride Celebration in June.  

Flores credits her hoops career and time at Northwestern for giving her the tools to successfully pivot into real estate and hospitality. 

“Playing sports and taking classes at Northwestern taught me so much resilience, teamwork and discipline that translate into my everyday life in my 40s,” she says.  

That includes knowing how to build a stellar starting lineup: Flores’ investment and advisory team is stacked with current and former pro and collegiate athletes and coaches, including Jennifer King, the first Black woman to hold a full-time coaching position in the NFL, and Ashleen Bracey, head women’s basketball coach at the University of Illinois Chicago. 

As the momentum behind women’s sports builds, Flores says fans can help keep the ball moving by showing support for the athletes and the people investing time and money in women’s sports.  

“You show up, you bring your energy, you bring the smile,” Flores says. “We’re cheering the teams on the screens. That’s the best way you can support women’s sports.”