Sports bars – even backed by leagues and networks – aren’t always a license to pour beer, serve wings, and print money. Just ask ESPN and NASCAR, following failed efforts.
For those operating a sports bar during coronavirus, good luck. While single-snapshot national data is hard to come by, it is estimated up to one in three sports bars are either critically financially strained or have shut down as a result of the pandemic.
The entire restaurant industry is expected to lose more than $225 billion and up to seven million jobs this year, according to a letter the National Restaurant Association sent earlier this year to President Trump and members of Congress seeking relief.
Impersonal numbers hit closer to home regarding one’s favored watering holes to enjoy a game and companionship.
Those in the New York area were saddened when in the summer the iconic midtown sports bar Foley’s, an always-fun gathering spot for fans of all sports, closed its taps and doors forever. The list of irreplaceable establishments disappearing is nothing less than an unfolding tragedy.
Yet, there are glimmers of hope.
This week, PBR and Cordish Companies quietly hung the sign on the tenth PBR Country Bar – this one to open in 2021 at Live! Casino in Pittsburgh.
The good-time bar will join the lineup of dining and entertainment experiences including Sports & Social Steel City, a blended sports restaurant and social lounge featuring a FanDuel sportsbook, and Guy Fieri’s American Kitchen + Bar. The gaming action includes 750 slots and dozens of live action table games.
A few things are at play here.
First, opening a league-branded bar during a pandemic is a tribute to the growing popularity of professional bull riding and the PBR brand.
In the recently concluded regular season, PBR on CBS was up +8% vs. 2019 in television viewership, according to Nielsen, while just about every major sport is down, some at historic lows, as chronicled recently by Kevin Draper in The New York Times. On social media, PBR increased its followers +18% and has rocketed +27% in watch time on social compared to 2019. Minutes viewed on RidePass, the sport’s OTT, have increased +8% this year, according to PBR.
It’s also a case study in the value of both consistency and authenticity.
Those who have been to a PBR bar, know what they’re in for: the predictable full-throttled simplicity and one formidable mechanical bull. PBR sticks to its fun-loving cowboy brand and doesn’t try to be all things to all people.
Before PBR Pittsburgh opens, the league is now inviting fans to the PBR Country Bar at Texas Live! in Arlington during PBR World Finals (Nov. 12-15). The recently reopened bar has a 7,000-square-foot balcony over a 5,000-person event space called Arlington Backyard to allow for social distancing, PBR says.
The bull riding league will conclude a very memorable season in its world championship at AT&T Stadium, where it has competed for the past 10 years, including the biggest single crowd in the sport’s history – 46,000 at the PBR Global Cup in 2019.
Forty-one days after the virus shut down the sports and entertainment world, PBR got back to competition quickly with new safety protocols, which were then requested by more than 15 leagues charting their path back. A fast return to the dirt, beginning with three weekends at a giant rodeo arena in Oklahoma to roll out professional sports’ first “bubble” positioned PBR to deliver a near-complete regular season to fans. (One event scheduled for Pensacola in September was canceled, due to Hurricane Sally not the virus).
After the three closed events in Oklahoma and a month-long June run at South Point Arena in Las Vegas, PBR then became the first to welcome fans back into the arena with South Dakota.
The sports world was introduced to the concept of “pod seating.” There were a fair share of very bad “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” jokes, but the new fan-separation scheme worked.
All told, since the U.S. shutdown in mid-March, PBR has safely held 18 event weekends, 11 with fans in attendance. After finishing its regular season in late October, and the finals of its number-two series, the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, this past Saturday in South Dakota, the cowboys and bulls now head to a ticketed championship at the NFL’s largest stadium. (Pod tickets are capped at 18,000 per night for social distancing.)
“Seven months ago, as we put each bull rider, stock contractor and crew member into their own RV on the grounds of the Lazy E in Oklahoma and were absolutely moving ahead with a live sporting event when everyone else was on the sidelines, the ship was truly sailing into completely unchartered waters,” said a PBR spokesperson.
“Sure, at the time, we were second-guessed. That’s expected when everyone was still learning about a scary, invisible virus and the conventional wisdom was to batten down the hatches and do nothing.. But we’d done our homework and had faith in carefully developed protocols putting safety first. It was a matter of being disciplined and executing the plan. The canary wound up making it out of the coal mine.
“Make no mistake, this virus remains very real, and every event is a reminder to double down on the safety protocols. We’re reminding everyone – competitors, crew, and fans alike – to stay focused and diligent.”
PBR Commissioner Sean Gleason has said that the goal wasn’t to be first, just to get its independent contractor cowboys and crew back to work while bringing fans a sport they love.
But PBR did set an example, showing the sports world it was possible to get back to business.
Others have shown equally impressive innovation, grit and determination, whether it’s UFC’s “Fight Island” delivering big numbers, the NHL’s brilliantly executed two-city bubble, albeit without fans in the house for the Stanley Cup playoffs, or the WNBA’s smart “wubble” at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
By scheduling back-to-back Cup races and events during the week, NASCAR was the only sport to deliver a full complete season even with events requiring scores of crew members and safety personnel.
MLB, despite early hiccups, kept swinging away to bring fans a much-needed and highly entertaining World Series (especially for Dodgers fans).
The NFL continues on with more teams hosting fans at reduced stadium capacity. Nine stadiums allowed fans last weekend.
Outside the world of sports, very encouraging news about Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine in development broke on Monday.
The light at the end of the tunnel is yet to be blinding. But it’s visible in the distance…as the first sport to come back holds its championship this weekend in Texas and announces brand expansions.
Here’s to the day when we are can hoist a beer in our favorite sports bar, or maybe find a new one that’s just opened, a slew of games from different leagues pulsating on the TVs, surrounded by the buzz of comebacks and blow outs, and drowned out by the trash talk and laughter of good friends.