New sports bars

MEET THE EXPERTS
Chicago Red Star defenders Nikki Krzysik and Michelle Wenino, both 22, and goalkeeper Lydia Williams, 21, anchor the defense for the soccer team, one of seven in the upstart Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league. When they want to watch soccer—or any sport—they usually head to the Globe Pub (1934 W Irving Park Rd, 773-871-3757), a hooligan-free, soccer-obsessed bar on the North Side.

Market
(1113 W Randolph St, 312-929-4787)
Spin This multilevel establishment from White Sox general manager Kenny Williams bills itself as a “restaurant and sports bar”—everything from the menu to the little black envelope holding your check is labeled with those very words.
Straight talk The slick interior, decked out in blond wood, feels built for dining…kind of like Blackbird with TVs that no one’s watching. Even in the more casual beer garden, the three athletes feel underdressed in denim shorts and T-shirts. “I think if you wanted to watch a game here, you’d have to get dressed up,” Lydia Williams says. “Not too many people are watching the [Cubs] game,” notes Krzysik. And while the stiff cocktails and clever, if perhaps overthought, pub-grub presentations (wings with dipping-sauce ramekins arranged like basketball hoops) get high marks, the bottle service and South Beach–style cabanas on the rooftop lounge pull Market further from sports-bar territory. Adds Williams: “If it were a big game, and I was looking to get sloshed, I wouldn’t do it here.”

District
(170 W Ontario St, 312-337-3477)
Spin Afraid people might mistake his handsome, high-ceilinged space for a backward hat–wearing frat-guy haven, owner Eric Tucker doesn’t refer to District as a “sports bar” at all. “I try not to,” he confesses. Instead, he refers to the 40 flat-screens that “envelop you” as “a new way to think about [a place] to watch sports.”
Straight talk Though the ladies are put off by the fancy libraryish decor—it’s “intimidating at first,” says Krzysik—they quickly ease into District. “The TVs are set up so you can really see them,” Wenino comments, noting a group of trader-looking dudes in oxfords standing near the bar watching ESPN. They also appreciate that, along with baseball, the TVs are tuned to a Wimbledon wrap-up. However, the crab dip with fried wonton chips is deemed a bit too fancy-pants for high-fiving sports fans. But it’s our energetic server Nicole who really makes an impression, especially when she checks with a manager to extend the hours of the night’s half-off appetizer special. “I feel more comfortable here,” Williams says. “This is a place where you could definitely say, ‘I came here to watch the game.’”

Theory
(9 W Hubbard St, 312-644-0004)
Spin Compared with the sprawling, multiple-personalitied Market and the “old meets new” concept at District, Theory (from a former manager of Joe’s on Weed Street) carries much more down-to-earth aspirations. Its website describes the bar, with its plush barstools and classy granite countertops, as a “cozy, upscale sports lounge” that wants to be “your home away from home.”
Straight talk “This has the most sports-bar feel,” Krzysik says as we walk into the polished-but-somewhat-generic space crammed with TVs. After noticing a guy with a backward baseball hat, she points out: “I see this being what [District] did not want to become.” The TVs tilted at angles for optimum viewing are also a plus. “They’re right in your face, which I like,” Wenino adds. Tasty nachos and potent drinks like the John Daly (ice tea–infused vodka and lemonade) are definitely sports bar–appropriate. But the ladies feel the blaring Eminem and smallish room could too easily degenerate into an overly crowded weekend club scene.