Pro Football What Sports Bars Come To Count On
In the local sports bar business, the king of the viewing hill is the National Football League.
“College football is popular, but pro football - folks pack the house for it,” said Steve Parker, owner of Steve’s Sports Dugout in Post Falls.
A Coeur d’Alene High School graduate, Parker had a brief playing career in the NFL with the New Orleans Saints in 1980 and ‘81 as a defensive end.
Many sports bars bill themselves as the viewing home of a particular professional sports team.
Parker said at his place, the biggest drawing teams are the Denver Broncos and Green Bay Packers.
At The Swinging Doors Tavern, co-owner Bob Materne said the Dallas Cowboys, the Raiders, Minnesota Vikings and Broncos are the NFL fan favorites.
“We also get a lot of people in here who are family members or friends of Spokane athletes who have gone on to play pro football,” Materne said.
Most owners say that basketball, baseball and hockey viewership tends to be sporadic. The one game they can count on for clientele is pro football.
Finnerty’s Red Lion is the home of the Packers in the morning and Broncos in the afternoon, while Fuzzy’s Sports Buzz, in the Valley, calls itself the home of the Vikings.
As far as college football is concerned, most owners say there are just as many University of Washington fans as there are Washington State supporters.
“Viewership of the Apple Cup is just huge,” said Thomas Fisher, owner of T.W. Fisher’s - A Brewpub in Coeur d’ Alene.
“The Huskies and Cougs are about split. I was looking around the bar last year, and it seemed like half the crowd was decked out in purple, the other half in crimson and gray.”
At The Swinging Doors last year, Materne said, the single largest draw was the Tennessee-WSU game, which drew close to 200 people.
“If you’re a sports bar owner and WSU can only be picked up the on satellite, you’re guaranteed to make money,” he said.
And what about the Huskies?
“They’re on national television a lot more,” Materne said, “so people don’t have to leave home if they don’t want to.
“But when they’re not on television, we get just as many UW fans as Cougar fans.”
, DataTimes