Major League Baseball (MLB) Opening Day is almost here, so now’s the time to make sure your sports bar is ready to cater and court fans of America’s pastime. And while courting fans always starts before the season starts, Opening Day is always a special occasion and a great opportunity to go the extra mile for your guests.

Let’s look at a few ways you can build up to and celebrate MLB Opening Day at your sports bar to kickoff the season.

Host Fantasy Drafts Leading Up to Opening Day

Baseball player slides into home while a catcher tries to tag him out

While fantasy football might be the king of fantasy sports, it was fantasy baseball that started the craze among diehard sports fans.

If you got the space, consider hosting fantasy baseball drafts for your guests. You can build an entire fantasy draft night package, including:

  • Room reservation
  • Catered food & drink menu
  • Use of a TV or electronic draft board for streaming the draft
  • Discount code/card on drinks/food for the entirety of the baseball season

Like any program, you’re only limited by your team’s skills and imagination. Build it up. Make it fun. Give guests and fantasy team owners a pro experience.

Invite the Local Fan Club(s)

Woman baseball fan cheering and holding a blue #1 foam finger

A known and steady source of income is always better than irregular, unknowns. If you can get in good with local baseball fan clubs in your area, you’ll be in great shape during the long summer season.

Invite local fan clubs to enjoy your MLB Opening Day festivities. Pitch to them what you have planned for your Opening Day Watch party, including what games, special menu items, giveaways, and any other special things happening.

If there’s no baseball fan clubs in your area, you can always start your own. Just work through what would make it worthwhile for both your business, but also baseball fans around you. If you need help, we created this free download on sports bars starting and growing a fan club.

If your Opening Day Watch Party went well, a lot of fans are going to want to come back on the regular anyways. But you can always sweeten the pot to get folks to return by giving the fan club a slight discount or some other special perk for partnering up with your sports bar.

Game Day Menu

Hotdogs, peanuts, popcorn, soda, corndogs and a few baseballs are grouped together on a sports bar top

One way you can make Opening Day special from another other day is your sports bar’s menu. Fortunately, baseball is closely associated with a bunch of fun and easy foods that you can add to your menu. Go with them in a classic form or see what your kitchen team can come up with to modernizing it up.

Some ideas:

  • Hot Dogs. The hot dog came to America around the same time baseball was invented. Add that to the fact that it’s easy to make and is great finger food to enjoy while watching the game, it’s a match made in baseball heaven. Go classic or spice it up a little with fun variations.
  • Crackerjacks. If you don’t want to buy the original, you can easily make these in-house with molasses, caramel, popcorn, and peanuts. Doing a peanut-free version might also be a good idea for your nut-allergen guests.
  • Jumbo Pretzels. Another great finger food that doubles as an appetizer or a mid-game snack.
  • Cotton Candy. You may need to rent a machine for this, but it would definitely set your sports pub apart from the competition.

And don’t forget about drinks! Make sure you are carrying your baseball fan club’s favorite beer, as well as some fun cocktail and mocktail refreshments. Get creative. See if there was a favorite drink of choice for current or previous players on the team your club is rooting for.

Opening Day Giveaways

Who doesn’t like to win fun prizes? A MLB Opening Day Watch Party at your sports bar is a great time to go the extra mile and rewards folks who came to watch with  you – especially those pesky weekday-afternoon games.

A few classic prize ideas include:

  • Signed baseball or bat
  • Discount or gift card to your sports bar
  • Beer (from a local brewery)
  • Trading cards
  • Tix to local baseball game (be it MLB, AAA, etc.)
  • Any other fun goods from other local businesses you can team up with. They don’t have to be baseball relate but that’s always a nice bonus.

There’s a few ways you can run the giveaways:

  • Trivia. Reward your baseball diehard and know-it-alls with baseball trivia.
  • Tickets/Name Out of a Hat. A little more equity in this version. You can run this where folks get X-amount of tickets for free or can purchase raffle tickets. Just make sure you know what your local laws are on raffles.
  • Pick the Winning Team/Score. Similar to a Pick ‘Em contest, ask guests to choose a winner and the score of the games you’re showing. Whoever chooses the correct number of runs for the winning team, wins; use total runs for the losing team as a tiebreaker, etc.

If you’ve run a sports bar long enough, you’ve probably already done something like this. Do what’s worked best for you in the past.

Capture the Magic & Share on Social

Sports fans celebrate the action while watching a game at a local sports bar and restaurant

Pics or it didn’t happen.

Make sure you get plenty of photos and videos of fans and your guests enjoying watching the game at your sports bar. Use this to promote future watch parties (and game days in general) both in your email marketing and social media posts.

If you have the budget to hire a professional photographer/videographer, even better. But you can still pull off quality images on your smartphone if you have the talent in-house.

You want to show off why your sports bar is the the place to watch the MLB this season. Great photos and video can help you do just that.

Batter Up!

While the start of the summer can be a busy time for sports bars thanks to the NBA and NHL playoffs, mid-summer can often be a slow time. MLB is often the focal point for many sports bars, with other events mixed in. Getting on the good side of your local baseball fans can help make sure the summer is hot and hopping all season long.