The rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated. –Mark Twain
If we can take any solace from this dubiously ascribed quote, it’s that while the sports bar industry is in trouble, it is unlikely disappearing for good. The months since March 16th of this year (when the NBA tipped the first domino of sports cancellations) have been a roller coaster of disruptions on which we are heading downhill again, as winter arrives and the COVID-19 virus rages.
An article in Sports Illustrated (SI) attempts to pay homage to the essence of the sports bars of old, but sadly also paints a bleak picture of what’s to come. Fortunately, we don’t buy into their morbidity and think the ending narrative of the sports bar isn’t quite ready to be written.
SI Paints a Grim Outlook
We must begin with the premise of the SI piece, which waxes poetic about the glory days of sports bars and how the pandemic is destroying the underlying fabric that made them possible. From one of the original sports bars, Toots Shor in Manhattan, to our own valued subscriber Ricky’s Sports Theatre outside of Oakland, the article is a fountain of superlatives about the experience of these vaunted sports themed operations.
It also tells of their final demise at the hands of the pandemic, but alludes to things already trending in that direction prior to COVID-19. However, this is where we think the author goes astray and the center of our assertion that things might turn out better for sports bars than the SI article implies.
The Rail Media has assembled a concentrated audience that is made up of every style of sports-themed operations ever envisioned. From traditional sports bars, to breastaurants (ex: Hooter’s) to full-service entertainment operators (Dave & Buster’s), our SportsTV Guide product tells them all exactly what is available for televised sports. As a result, we have had the fortune to observe the journey they have all been on since the pandemic was declared.
Why We’re Optimistic for the Sports Bars’ Future
To prove the validity of our optimism regarding the sports bar segment, we just need to examine the traffic that SportsTV Guide has experienced since late March after most states issued safer-in-place orders. We immediately saw our volume drop to nearly 0 visits per day. It slowly recovered to almost 100% of pre-pandemic levels by August, mirroring the small recovery we enjoyed this past summer. And now we are seeing about a 35% drop since the virus began exploding again starting in early November.
While there are clearly more hard times on the horizon, the first recovery last summer is demonstrable evidence of the resiliency of our industry segment.
When people returned to restaurants this past summer, their first stop seemed to be at their local sports bar. It would appear that with fewer options to dine out, the inclusion of sports viewing was a significant operational advantage. Social interaction and sports-starved consumers will be no less eager for that return in spring, especially as the season slows the virus and the vaccine provides the confidence for them to head back out into the world.
Sports Bars are a Resilient, Adaptable Industry
With all due respect to bars like Foley’s in NYC and the Fours in Boston (also mentioned in the SI article as having closed), they were both an old iteration of the sports bar. Dusty memorabilia, pub-inspired menus, and cramped, quirky quarters were the order of the day when the sports bar exploded onto the scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
But today, the modern sports bar landscape couldn’t look any different.
SportsTV Guide serves all manner of operators that leverage sports to attract guests. Having ample TVs for sports viewing has become de rigueur in the full-service restaurant segment. From Applebee’s to BJ’s Brewhouse, chain operators of all stripes see the value in sports to drive guest traffic.
The best part of this revelation is that all sports are local, which favors the current generation of independent operators. Yes, some hallowed ground has gone asunder, but from it we will continue to see the growth of the sports-themed operators long after they and COVID-19 are both distant memories.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.