It’s a sports fan’s dream: a discussion topic pondered over countless pints and bowls of hot chips.
Given a blank canvas and tasked with creating the ultimate sports bar, how would you do it?
The Warriors have embarked on their own journey and completed step one: they have found the location for their themed pub, which they hope will become the best sports bar in New Zealand.
The remaining steps are less clear – TV positioning, food and drink menus, opening hours for special events, whether to include gambling options and acquiring the perfect memorabilia to adorn the walls must all be addressed before the doors can open.
Bricks and mortar can only take you so far in the hospitality game, as Otis Schapiro, owner of Auckland’s Schapiro’s Sports Bar, tells the Herald.
“What really makes a good sports bar, and what makes a great sports event whether you’re at a bar or a stadium, is the atmosphere. It all ties back to the atmosphere, what’s going to get people through the door. It starts with TVs and memorabilia and goes into getting the other stuff right like hospitality, through to the drinks and the service.”
Gerrick Numan, director of hospitality design studio Mille, which designed Schapiro’s, concurs that it is the small things most punters won’t be able to put their finger on that can turn a sports bar from a one-night adventure into a regular watering hole.
“These things succeed and they feel good not just because of the TVs or the memorabilia or the food, it’s all the 1 percenters that add up in these spaces.
“It’s all those little touches. You’ll find that at any great restaurant, cafe or bar. You won’t be able to describe it. I will be able to say this, this, this and this. But Joe and John public are going to walk in and say ‘I love this place’ or ‘Ahhh, I kind of hate this’.”
Romain Cunat, who co-owns The Locker Room Sports Bar in Queenstown with friend Hayden Davison, feels a sense of community is what drives people to flock to sports bars to cheer on their team.
“Sport to me is something that brings the community together, brings random people watching their team or the opposing team that don’t know each other from before to be watching something in common.”
Steve Armitage, chief executive of Hospitality NZ, echoes Cunat in that creating a space for people to come together and share a love of sport is a sports bar’s true purpose.
“Great sports bars bring people together. Being able to spend time with friends and whānau and other fans in a relaxed setting is something we love doing. Kiwis love sports of all varieties, and sports bars give the public a chance to watch a big game that they might not have access to at home.”
Cunat argues your television offering is what can make or break a sports bar and that ensuring you have each sporting base covered is the secret to success.
“Inclusivity of all sport is probably the most important thing ... you have to be interested in AFL, NRL, NFL, all those things, because we have people coming in from all over the world in New Zealand.”
Understanding and catering to your patrons is crucial.
“In Queenstown, the most popular sport would probably be AFL, surprisingly, because we have a lot of tourists coming from Australia. Then NRL and Super Rugby comes probably third.”
He stresses that giving punters options is the key to a memorable experience.
“We have in our sports bar at least five different channels on at all times. Now we are at I think 19 TVs. I think you need a f*** tonne of TVs.
“At the end of the day, people are going to watch more than one event. Maybe the Warriors are going to be playing at the same time as the Highlanders one week ... you want as many TVs as you can, to be honest with you. We have as many as we can fit on the walls.”
TV dispersal, lighting and seating arrangements are a part of the 1 per cent Numan alludes to, but he says what is often overlooked is music.
“We had to get those TVs on the right angle, play around with a 3D model and make sure they were perfect, ask other experts and get it all right. But I’d definitely say the thing that makes that space work well is all the 1 percenters; you’ve got comfort, good lighting, you’ve got great food ... all those things add up to the feeling ‘F***, I love this place.’
“Music’s a big thing. It changes everything, if you’ve got a tinny system with no bass and not good selections [of music] that isn’t upbeat, it feels weird.”
Few places in New Zealand can boast a collection of memorabilia that includes signed items from Michael Vick, Allen Iverson and Alessandro Del Piero – but Schapiro’s does.
“I’m a sporting fanatic – I had a lot of fun collecting that stuff,” Schapiro says. “It really lends some authenticity to the place. It makes you feel like you’re in somewhere special to watch the game.
“If you go to some of the other sports bars around town, they’ll probably pack the place out for a big game – the All Blacks pack out hundreds of bars around the city. You could be in your mate’s lounge or something, it doesn’t feel like you’re anywhere special.”
Having slightly more niche items on display adds authenticity and proves he and his business are sports fans first and foremost, he says.
“I’ve got some pretty obscure things around the place that I kind of hoped that people who are really into those kinds of sports will appreciate and will lend some authenticity to the place and make people realise how serious we are about sport.”
The Locker Room opts for a local touch with its memorabilia. Along with Steven Adams and All Blacks signed jerseys are several local teams.
“I think it’s a nice touch, I think it’s quite important,” Cunat says. “In our bar, for example, we have a few teams we sponsor on the walls, so there’s the hockey team from Queenstown, they signed us a jersey.”
A hardcore sports fan will be able to tell whether a collection of memorabilia has been curated from the heart or is the result of forking out at a charity auction.
Schapiro and Cunat agree that identifying what your customer base will get excited about is key to running a successful sports bar. But they differ in their methodology.
“We don’t really put on many events, we just try to promote those things that we know people are going to pack the place out for,” Schapiro says.
“We’ve been open for two years now so it’s pretty easy to identity what people will want to watch, what will draw a crowd. Currently, the Warriors will draw a big crowd, the first year they would not. Any of your pay-per-view UFC events, big American events like the Super Bowl, NBA playoffs draw a big crowd.”
The Locker Room uses social media to let punters know which big events are coming up during the week, hoping to avoid a myriad phone calls along the lines of “Will you be showing the UFC this weekend?”
“I think it’s pretty vital to tell people if you’re opening for something special, if you’re showing something,” says Cunat.
He highlights the upcoming European Football Championship in Germany this June that will draw big interest, particularly in Queenstown with its large European population.
Being in touch with your customer base’s sporting appetite is arguably the most important intangible asset you can bring to sports bar ownership.
Quiz nights are a tried and true method of getting people through the door on quiet nights, hence the Tuesday quiz night. Partnering with community sports also helps your bar to become a part of the community.
“Sports bars are integral to the cities and towns they’re part of, hosting events like trivia nights and teaming up with local teams and clubs, all of which helps develop a real sense of community,” Cunat says.
Once the punters have come through your door and marvelled at your Carlos Spencer signed Blues jersey on the wall, they’re going to be searching for one thing: the menu.
Be it a liquid lunch or something hot from the grill, food and drink are what ultimately will keep patrons coming back. Schapiro says casual diners or “one beer” visitors keep his business ticking over during slower periods.
“If you want to have a sustainable business that makes money, then the food and drink is pretty important. How many times are you going to pack out per week for a sporting event? If you’re lucky and average it throughout the year, maybe twice? So the rest of the time, if you’re food and beverage is pretty s***, there’s no reason to come.”
Human lives seem to revolve around breaking bread together. Armitage theorises that food and drink are as much a part of the experience as which game is playing on the TV.
“A good selection of food and beverages is also crucial. Fans heading to a bar are going to be in the venue for a decent amount of time, so having a diverse range of things for punters to eat and drink is a big part of the experience.”
The attitude towards gambling is also something Schapiro and Cunat agree on. They concede that watching sports and gambling have a long history but they draw the line at offering pokie machines at their bars.
“It goes against my morals, you know. People that use pokies are generally in a pretty bad place, right?” says Schapiro.
Schapiro’s has one TAB machine that punters can use to place a bet and receive a physical ticket. Schapiro was keen to add a touch of nostalgia as he remembers heading into a TAB to place a bet ahead of the weekend’s NRL matches in years gone by.
“I really like having it there, the excitement of having an actual ticket and waving it around while you’re watching the game is kinda cool. It’s sort of disappeared a bit now [with the rise of online gambling], it’s a bit of a nostalgic thing which I think people appreciate.
“We don’t make any money from that. I think total last year we made like $1500 or something.”
The Locker Room follows a similar approach, with just one TAB machine and no pokies. Cunat says sports matches and gambling can be combined for a bit of fun, whereas pokies aren’t something he’s interested in offering.
“People love to have a little bet on their team or something, it can be a bit of fun.”
These five ingredients are the staples of any sports bar recipe, but it is how they are combined that sets apart a great establishment from a good one. The 1 percenters are what your customers will not be able to describe to their friends but what they will be able to tell them is the name of your bar and where to find it.
Will Toogood is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
Veteran Sam Cane is given his farewell test appearance.