Grand Opening Of Title 9 Sports Grill Celebrates Women Athletes

Opening a restaurant is supposed to be a nerve-wracking, stress-inducing experience that causes anxious sleep deprivation. But Audrey Corley and married couple Kat and Brad Moore seemingly didn’t get the memo. Instead, just a few days before the March grand opening of their new venture, the Title 9 Sports Grill, the partners were strangely cheerful and lighthearted.

Maybe their combined decades of restaurant, bar and culinary experience had something to do with their untroubled demeanors.

This is definitely not their first rodeo, but it is a historic one.

Play Like a Girl!

Walking into Title 9 Sports Grill, it’s obvious this is not a typical cookie-cutter bar, even though there are some common sports bar amenities like a pool table, games and huge bank of televisions.

That’s where the similarities end.

Title 9 is a joyful celebration of women in sports. There’s a trophy wall, medals hanging from the ceiling, and walls covered with photos of noted female amateur and professional athletes. Some photos even have QR codes linking to bios of the pictured athletes. An entire hallway is dedicated to influential women in Arizona athletics, and a poster invites patrons to bring in their old trophies for display.

Supporting the theme is a grand, pink glowing sign in cursive that reads “Play Like a Girl!”

Audrey, Kat and Brad, all award-winning veterans of the Phoenix scene, joined forces in December to create this unique concept restaurant/bar that specifically focuses on the past, present and future of women in sports. As the name implies, it is based on the historic implementation of landmark civil rights legislation that resulted in Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972.

Title IX Works

Athletics is one of the 10 areas addressed by the watershed law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational institution that receives federal funds. It mandates equal access to participation and equitable treatment, evening the playing field by offering women the same competitive opportunities as men. At the collegiate level, for example, that meant establishment of athletic scholarships for females proportionate to the percentage of athletes of each sex.

According to the extensive 2022 Women’s Sports Foundation report, Title IX at 50, the legislation has had a far-reaching impact on the upward trend of girls and women participating in athletics. Female participation has grown from 29,977 in 1972, to 226,212 competing in NCAA institutions in 2021-22. a whopping 618% increase. Today, women make up 44% of NCAA athletes.

Both Audrey (basketball) and Kat (soccer) experienced the physical, mental and emotional benefits of playing sports, one reason Title 9 was such an attractive concept for their venture.

“I always say that being on the Phoenix College women’s basketball team saved my life, because I knew I was on the right track and going the right direction,” said Audrey (Coach A), who played on the boy’s YMCA team as a youngster.

Hearing Eye of the Tiger still gives the former coach goosebumps because it resonates with persistence, heart and passion, qualities developed in her athletic career that continue to motivate her today.

Veterans Front and Back

Audrey has been in the hospitality/bar industry since she was 18, and has owned the popular Boycott Bar, Arizona’s only lesbian nightclub, for nine years. She is also an owner of Dahlia Tapas, Tequila and Wine. The popular Boycott made USA Today’s 2024 list of 27 “Best Bars in America,” and was recognized for offering a “safe, inclusive experience for the community.”

Kat and Brad Moore cut their culinary teeth on creating gourmet hotdogs and brioche donuts, establishing local favorite Short Leash Hotdogs + TAPROOM 15 years ago. They operated several kiosks, plus the bricks and mortar location in Phoenix’s happening Melrose District just down the street from Boycott Bar. When they sold their brand and retained the location, delicious serendipity happened.

Audrey was looking to expand, the Moore’s wanted to start a new themed venture, the parties met, the timing was right and a collaboration made in restauranteur heaven was born. The business neighbors became business partners.

Each brings individual skills and expertise to Title 9, but they are bound primarily by a strong commitment to the community and a shared sense of fun and adventure. They have easily fallen into their roles – gregarious Audrey is definitely the “front of house” person; Kat, the chef; and Brad, the administrator.

“He’ll be the serious one,” laughed Kat.

“But,” she added, “We all have mutual respect for each other and I think if you have that, you’re always going to find a way to make it work, right?”

Inside Title 9

Chef Kat has been cooking all her life and oversees the food menu that features elevated sports bar food in a comfortable restaurant setting. She highly recommends the Chocolate Cherry or Thai Peanut Sliders, and the famous fried pickles, a carryover from Short Leash.

“My mom was amazing and I just grew up with her in the kitchen all the time. I mean, she would make Beef Wellington for fun,” she recalled.

Audrey, on the other hand, considers herself “a chef of drinks,” and a foodie.

“Most people, you know, eat to live. I live to eat. I’m not gonna lie, I love food,” she joked.

Title 9 offers a full alcohol and non-alcohol drinks menu with signature cocktails named after legendary female athletes. Try the Pat Summit Sour, Ledecky Lit, Taurasi Goat-Tail or Maher Mule. Even the proprietors get their own drinks – the Kickin’ Kat Collins and the Coach A.

Come One, Come All!

The number of bars in the United States dedicated to showing women’s sports is expected to quadruple this year, from six at the start of 2025 to about two dozen by the end of the year. Title 9 Sports Grill, however, stands alone in its inventive focus on food, family fun and inclusivity.

Don’t call it a “women’s bar.” It is, instead, a place where women athletes are celebrated and men, women, friends and families are all welcome. Women’s and men’s collegiate and professional sports are aired, with a weekly television schedule posted on the website.

It’s a distinction that Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes noted at the Grand Opening. Fontes, who attended with his wife and kids, expressed appreciation for Title 9’s inclusive nature.

“You don’t have to be a woman to come,” said the father of three girls. “I’m here with my family today. We’re having a great time. You know, the environment is lively, the food’s good, the drinks are delicious. And there’s no reason why everybody shouldn’t feel welcome in a place that celebrates women.”

He added, “This is a celebration of some of our society. You know, you don’t shy away from a Mexican food joint if you’re not Mexican, right? Why would you shy away from a woman’s bar if you’re not a woman?”

Those are points that Kat and Audrey had in mind when creating Title 9.

Said Kat, “I just want people to come in with excitement and hope for the future, right? That little girls or boys can come in here and feel like they have a chance to be something great and do great things.”

Audrey agreed, adding, “I want them to be like, ‘this is pretty cool.’ I don’t want it to feel like a regular sports bar. I want it to feel different. I want it to feel like Title 9 includes everybody, and that it’s a place where everyone’s welcome.”

Back to the Past?

Title 9 Sports Grill is launching at an interesting time. It is impossible to celebrate the Grand Opening without also addressing assaults on the official Title IX legislation.

Executive Order 14168 issued in January 2025 – Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government – narrowed the scope of Title IX, rescinding 2024 regulations regarding gender identity and sexual orientation that protected transgender students.

The Order is based on the Administration’s insistence on biological, binary sex identity recognizing only male and female, at birth and essentially eradicates protections for claims based on gender orientation/identity.

And should the Department of Education, which enforces, investigates and processes Title IX claims be eliminated, the future of the milestone law is murky.

While not wanting the venture into political waters, the owners couldn’t help but address the issue.

Said Audrey, “It’s very frustrating because we’ve come so far, to just get pushed back. It’s frustrating on all levels, especially as women right now, we’re still trying to thrive just to get slapped in the face and to get sent back.”

Added Kat, “I think we have to come together as women, and the more we start uniting, the better we’ll be. And I feel like in this day and age, the fact that we care about people’s sex or who they love or who they sleep with or who they marry or whatever is just absurd. It’s so ridiculous.”

Secretary Fontes was even more forceful in his response regarding the issue, saying, “Civil rights is not pie. You don’t serve it out in pieces, with somebody else getting more and you getting less. That zero-sum game mentality comes from a place of insecurity and privilege and it just betrays this ridiculous attitude.”

He added, “I’m not a fan of the politics of grievance. I’m a fan of the politics of hope. And so folks who want to take us backward, they’re grieving the fact that other people are rising to be in a place where they can achieve, where their efforts can pay off just like everybody else.”

50 More Years?

It’s undeniable that Title IX has had a positive impact on girls and women for the past 53 years. And while many who benefit from its protections are not even aware of the law’s existence, Sister Lynn Winsor has been there from the beginning and can attest to the ways it changed the athletic landscape for girls.

The 81-year old Sister is recognized on the Title 9 Sports Grill Arizona wall as a transformative leader who was instrumental in creating the athletic powerhouse that is Xavier College Preparatory today.

As the athletic director of the private girls’ Catholic high school, the 81-year old dynamo has been a fierce proponent of women in sports and athletics administration for over 50 years. Under her leadership, Xavier has amassed 158 state championships, including a record 39 state golf titles.

She recalled that when Title IX became law, nobody really paid attention or envisioned its potential. As one of the founders of the Arizona Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (AIAAA), and the executive board Girls Equity and Sports Committee, she evaluated schools for parity following the enactment of Title IX.

One of her earliest memories was of a school that provided baseball with big dugouts and scoreboards, while girls’ softball had no dugouts, no scoreboards, and just a broken-down wooden bench.

“That changed because we said if your school doesn’t fix this, it will be a Title IX violation,” she said. “Sometimes litigation is the way you have to go. Now the girls will go after them and there’s no fear. In the old days, there was. But now it’s perfectly fine. And the girls should do it. And their parents should, too. We’ve been promised equity,” she stated emphatically.

Because of Title IX and advocates like Sister Lynn and others, more girls than ever are participating in sports at a young age. While girls comprised just 7% of high school athletes participating on varsity teams in 1972, that number grew to 42% in 2021. And the number of girls playing high school sports increased to a record-high 3.42 million in 2023-24.

So, as Women’s History Month comes to a close, Title 9 Sports Grill patrons will raise a glass to the continued pursuit of equity and recognition of women in sports. And perhaps they’ll be watching the Women’s NCAA Final Four championship telecast outdraw the Men’s by four million viewers, like it did in 2024.