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How to Connect to Sports Fans

By Julia Nikolaus, Contributor As our culture becomes ever more remote -- remote work, remote family gatherings, remote friendships -- sports have become a point of invaluable connection. Whether it’s rooting for the same team or playing in a community league together, watching and participating in sports fosters friendships, connection, and camaraderie. And it’s important for sports-themed restaurants and bars to tap into that valuable connection sports offers and establish your business as a point of connection, community, and cultural bonding. Diversify Your Offerings If you’ve only ever had your local football team’s games playing on TV in your bar, it’s time to click out of the local listings and find the bigger picture. Many sports bars make their name specifically on “niche” viewings, like The Sports Bra in Portland, OR, which only shows women’s competitive televised sports. While you [...]

By |2023-04-27T09:37:00-04:00April 27th, 2023|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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So, Who are Baseball’s Biggest Fans?

Last week, the 2023 MLB season began with new rules for players and new hope for fans everywhere. Many of these fans will be your sports bar’s main source of guests during the slower summer sports season, especially after the NBA and NHL playoffs wind down. But just who are these baseball fans and how can sports bars market and cater to them? Recently, Statista published several reports on the MLB and baseball fans. Let’s take a quick trot around the diamond to see who the average US baseball fan is. Baseball Fans are Old & Aging Fans of America’s pastime are old and only getting older, which might create a bit of a problem for the MLB down the road. As the following chart shows, Baby Boomers are, by far, the biggest baseball fans in the US. 65% of [...]

By |2023-04-03T10:53:42-04:00April 3rd, 2023|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Tips for Cross Promoting Events at Your Sports Bar

Be it a watch party, eSports event, or just showing the local, big games, for it to be successful you need bodies in your seats. And like anything, folks can’t come to it if they don’t know it’s happening. With upheaval in social media recently making getting the message out there dicey, sports bar operators should expand how they’re promoting their bar and events. One way is to cross-promote your events. In this context, cross-promotion is getting the word out about one event you’re running through another event you’re already running and have an audience for. This way you don’t need to build interest from a standstill but can take the momentum from event into the next. Here are a few ideas to get you going. It Starts with Your Email Email is one of your sports bar’s most powerful [...]

By |2022-11-08T09:11:39-05:00November 8th, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Which Sports Do Americans Follow?

For years, we’ve been saying the number one reason why sports fans come to visit your bar is to watch sports. But which sports? Unless you’ve polled your own guests or done some sales vs. games analysis, you’re probably running more on gut instinct. Instinct is good, but instinct backed with some data is even better. Recently, Statista ran a survey with American sports fans on what professional sports they follow. Mind you, what the national average is might not match up with what happens locally, so definitely do your own due diligence, but this info is a nice starting point. You will find more infographics at Statista Football is King Unsurprisingly, football remains America’s favorite sport to watch, dominating the survey with 75% favorability among the survey participants. And while just having the games available to show will bring [...]

By |2022-08-31T09:48:47-04:00August 31st, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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How to Create ‘Stickier’ Customers in 4 Easy Steps

You want “sticky” customers. No, not customers who have doused themselves in honey or glue, but those who continue to return, whether that’s for wing night, game night or just to enjoy a meal with friends or family. Retaining your bar’s guests is generally cheaper than acquiring new ones, so it’s important to have a robust retention strategy. If you’re thinking about creating a new strategy or modifying your sports bar’s current retention strategy, look no further than this blog post. We’ll walk you through four steps to get you closer to the perfect plan of action. Enroll Patrons in Loyalty Programs Loyalty programs are a great way to keep people coming to your sports bar. What’s great about loyalty programs is that you don’t need to have a complicated, digital solution! If you want to get started right away, [...]

By |2022-06-07T11:55:46-04:00March 18th, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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4 Ways to Engage Your Guests Longer

Table turnover is a tricky business. You don’t want to rush anyone out the door before they’ve made their last purchase, but you shouldn’t let them stay so long that you lose waiting parties to another venue. However, there are times you want to keep diners around just a little bit longer. With the right combination of entertainment and on-screen messaging, you can do just that — without sacrificing revenue. Let’s take a look at four ways your sports bar can keep guests and fans in their seats longer. Offer Compelling Entertainment We’re probably preaching to the choir here (after all, you’re reading this on the SportsTV Guide’s blog), but good entertainment is a great way to get diners to stick around longer — especially if you’re broadcasting a big game. Even if diners don’t stay the full length of [...]

By |2022-06-07T12:00:11-04:00March 15th, 2022|Alternate Sports Programming, Guest Management|0 Comments
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4 Ways to Grow Your Customer Base

When it comes to marketing, complacency means stagnation, and stagnation means no new customers. No sports bar wants to see their customer base dry up. That means that even after you have a core group of regulars, you have to continue marketing to bring in new customers. So, how do you do that? For starters, keep doing what you did to get those regulars. What worked once will work again. But if you want some fresh ideas, keep reading. Generate More Reviews For many sports bars, reviews function as critical drivers of customer acquisition. A high percentage of positive reviews attracts more business for you — but getting those reviews can be incredibly difficult. The best moment to ask for a review is when the experience is still fresh — and you can use your TVs to make your request. [...]

By |2022-06-07T12:02:57-04:00March 7th, 2022|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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4 Ways Sports Bars Can Leverage Sports During COVID-19

The NRA just reported that over 100,000 restaurants have remained closed during the pandemic. That is a startling statistic and should scare you into action. The good news is that sports-themed operators have survived better than most in our industry, and sports remains an authentic call-to-action for guests to visit your restaurants. Which is why it’s time to double down on your marketing of the sports viewing experience you provide. Below we outline four strategies to improve your sports experience marketing and grow during these impossible times. Market Off-Premise Tailgate Packages Never before has off-premise dining been more important to your business. This is why sports can be a serious advantage for marketing your carryout menus. With the four major North American sports and NCAA football all in play right now, there is ample opportunity for guests to celebrate a [...]

By |2022-06-07T12:49:06-04:00September 15th, 2020|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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Host the Ultimate Game Watch Party for Your Fan Club

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman It’s the big day --  GAMEDAY!!! You’ve done all of this hard work to find an ideal team and grow their local fan club chapter. Now you need to host those fans coming to cheer on their team and give them a stadium-like experience that will keep them coming back for more. Here’s how to do that from FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar. Do a Systems Check The most important thing is making sure that everyone can enjoy the game, so feature it on the best TVs and you must include audible sound. Test the channel in advance, especially if you are streaming the game over the Internet. If the Internet quality is questionable, switch off any non-essential Wi-Fi so that the public is not consuming [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:24:15-04:00July 22nd, 2019|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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How to Start a New Fan Club Chapter at Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman If you have read our last two posts in FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar then you are ready for the big moment -- officially creating or finding your local fan club. You’ve picked the best league and identified a few target teams. But just before you just directly ask the fan club chapter to host their events at your bar, we want to coach you up on the different organizational structures for collegiate alumni associations and professional sports fan clubs to help you increase your chances of landing your first fan community. Finding a College Sports Fan Club If you want to focus on college teams, you will want to seek the approval from the alumni association to be an officially sanctioned event. You can be [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:29:10-04:00July 15th, 2019|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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Finding the Right Team for Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman Welcome back to our second installment in FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar. Now that you have picked the best sports league to target for the upcoming season, the next step is finding the right sports team for your sports bar. Sure, you are saying “I already have one in mind that I really want.” But just in case, we want to give you a checklist to make sure that it really is the right fit for your bar. Which Sports Fan Clubs Need a Home? First, find those untapped fan club opportunities in your city. Don’t be the hundredth bar to host the city’s local team (unless it is for the playoffs or a championship, then that’s understandable) beit-mirkahat.com. FanWide.com can help you see which fan [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:30:12-04:00July 11th, 2019|Guest Management, Sports Bar Management|0 Comments
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Choosing the Right Sports & Fan Clubs for Your Sports Bar

By Nathan Hirsch & Symon Perriman So, you want to host a fan club for a popular sports team at your bar? In this six-part series we are enlisting the help of our friends at FanWide.com to walk you through how to put on the best game viewing party for a sports fan club at your establishment. FanWide’s Guide to Starting and Growing a Fan Club in your Sports Bar will give a 360-degree view on all the best practices that result in a thriving watch party revenue stream. Some of the topics we will cover include, knowing the sports seasons & schedules, picking the best fan club for your restaurant, how to convince fan clubs to choose your bar as their new home base, best practices for promoting your new fan club, hosting great gameday events, and how to [...]

By |2022-06-07T13:32:43-04:00July 8th, 2019|Guest Management, Sports Bar Marketing|0 Comments
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