The NFL. NBA. MLB. NCAA. The NHL and even the MLS. We’re pretty sure your sports bar has these leagues in heavy rotation on your TVs. And so does every other sports bar around the country. So, what makes your bar stand out from the rest?

One way is to show sports and games your competitors either are incapable of showing or not willing to show. There’s a myriad of other professional leagues out there, and the increased ability of streaming games online has made it even easier for sports bars to give their guests something unique to watch.

Here are three leagues and sports we think sports bars should start showing on their TVs on the regular. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, but hopefully it’ll start as a springboard for elevating your business to something more than just “another corner sports bar.”

Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL)… Formerly(ish), Premier Hockey Federation (PHF), Formerly the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL)

If your sports bar is big into hockey, you really need to start showing Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) games.

Formerly known as the National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL), the PHF is a professional women’s hockey league, founded in 2015. It boasts a modest seven teams from the USA and Canada, but don’t let the lack of quantity deceive you. The PHF displays some amazingly talented hockey talent, many of which also compete in the Winter Olympics.

And if you’re thinking, “No one wants to watch women’s sports,” be at ease. A Nielsen study showed that 84% of sports fans want to watch women’s sports.

But why the PHF? Well, if you find the 1-0 and 2-1 games of the NHL a bit dull for your taste, the PHF is a nice jolt of change. PHF games are often offensive slugfests with scores like 5-3, 6-4, and 7-4 being pretty normal. The action is high paced and the athletes world-class.

And there are plenty of games to show. The 2022-2023 season has each team playing 24 games over 19 weeks, plus the Isobel Cup Playoffs. And becoming a “Fan HQ” for a PHF team is a great way to bring in new guests to your bar, especially when the team is on the road.

You can find PHF games on ESPN+, TSN, or the WatchSportsApp for the 2022-2023 season. The Isobel Cup Playoffs will air on ESPN2. You can find out when and where all the PHF games are airing on the SportsTV Guide.

UPDATE: The PHF was bought out in the summer of 2023 and a new league was created — the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL). The league debuted in January 2024. The games are just as exciting to watch (if not more so) and allow for higher levels of body contact and checking compared to previous women’s leagues. In their first week, the Minnesota vs. Montreal game set an attendance record for the most watched professional women’s ice hockey event with 13,316 people. In short: folks love women’s hockey and this league needs to be on your rotation. The games air on TSN, SportsNet, CBC, various US regional sports networks, as well as streaming on the league’s Youtube channel.

Premiere Lacrosse League (PLL)

Speaking of high scoring, fast-paced action, consider tossing the Premiere Lacrosse League (PLL) on your TVs in regular rotation.

In 2020, the PLL merged with the Major League Lacrosse (MLL). The major change is that the teams would no longer have hometowns but instead moved to a “tour-based” model. This means that all teams travel together and play at the same venue on the same day (similar to the WWE).

While this also makes choosing the hometown as your bar’s team to follow null, it does open up your bar to choose any of the league’s eight teams to be “your team.” Or, you can always stay team-agnostic and show all the PLL games – they do all play on the same day after all.

And since it’s lax, the games are high scoring. The last four championship games, for example, ranged between 18 and 23 total, combined goals.

You can find PLL games — including All-Star Festivities, playoffs and Championship Weekend — on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+, and ABC. Find the list of game days/times and channels on the SportsTV Guide.

American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL)

That’s right. That fun little game you used to play with friends on the quad of your college campus has its own professional league, the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). And the best part – you can find the games on TV!

Ultimate disc (and the AUDL) operates similar to football and rugby in which one team must advance the disc into the opposing team’s end zone to score a point.  Unlike football and rugby, however, players can’t run with the disc. Everything must be done on the pass (either forward or backward). And because of how the disc moves through the air, you end up with some pretty unique and stellar plays.

The AUDL has 24 teams across the US and Canada, so if your sports bar operates near a major city, there’s a good chance you have a hometown team to drawn fans from.

AUDL matches can be found on AUDL.TV, Fox Sports 2, and Roku. The league runs from the spring through mid-summer. Get the schedule and games/days/channels on the SportsTV Guide.

Don’t Forget to Market These Sports & Leagues

Sports fans having fun at a sports bar

It doesn’t matter how many of these games, sports, or leagues you show if you don’t tell your guests about them. Be sure to push the fact that you’re airing these amazing games and leagues on your TVs as much (if not more) as you do for other professional sports.

A few ways to do this easily:

  • Turn your sports bar into the Fan Club HQ for a given team.
  • List the games in your sports bar’s newsletter as “Must See” events.
  • Display them on the STVG for Digital Signage, our animated, automated, and customizable scheduling display that shows your schedule right on your TVs and digital signage. Free with your STVG subscription.
  • Promote the games on your social media, using eye-catching photos or videos if you can.
  • Embed the STVG Widget on your website, which comes free with every STVG subscription.
  • Highlight them on your printed schedules left at every tabletop or bar stool, or use a QR code as hands-free option.
  • Host Watch Parties to help build excitement about these unique games.

It’s hard to stand out as a sports bar among a sea of other sports bars, but showing these undervalued games will help show that you’re serious about sports and are leagues ahead of the competition.