Upstairs, AC Golden, Coors’ pilot program known for Colorado Native, serves freshly brewed beer straight from the tank. There are five other locations nationally. The concept is a relaunch of the former Tom’s Urban diner-style restaurants. The two-story, indoor-outdoor restaurant and brewpub opened mid-June. Walk into the McGregor Square restaurant and a 165-inch stadium screen demands your attention, even though it’s competing with over 115 other flashing TVs. High-tech amenities are likewise a main draw at co-owner Ryan’s Tom’s Watch Bar. “Instead of watching sports, we’re all experts in Netflix and Hulu and Prime.” “People are cutting the cable cord,” Fuselier said. Getting the younger cohort to come inside - and stay - means embracing shifts in how people consume entertainment. Fuselier, 57, said he would starve if he had to rely on his age group coming to Blake Street.
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The newly legal vice could help lure a Gen Z crowd that may be less interested in pro sports, but more apt to go out on the town. Fuselier already partnered with, which operates sportsbooks in both Vegas and Black Hawk. Now that gambling is legal, sports bars are betting on betting to keep people coming. To add to the experience, taverns focus on interactive games and classics like darts, pool, Skee-Ball and cornhole. Most families have their own at-home cinema, so it’s difficult to impress with high-def. Today, sports bars have to compete with people’s living rooms, Fuselier said.
“I came back to Denver and no one had HDTV except ESPN Zone, so I turned around and spent $80,000 on HDTVs. “Every bar there had this new thing called HDTV,” he said. The following year, he traveled to Chicago to check out the bar scene. When Fuselier opened Blake Street in 2003, he spent $50,000 on what he thought were top-of-the-line TVs, the pre-flatscreen anvil-size kind that ‘80s rock bands threw out hotel windows. Fuselier confirmed the loan and grant amounts.īefore the pandemic, sports bars were already up against a changing world. The company was approved for a $1,799,153 Restaurant Revitalization Fund grant, SBA data shows. The PPP loans were used to help pay 61 employees last year, and 40 this year. The first loan was forgiven as of November, according to SBA documents. 16, according to Small Business Administration data. Without federal help from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund - and his landlord agreeing to make a deal on rent - the bar wouldn’t have survived, he said.įuselier’s company, CJF Holdings, was approved for two Paycheck Protection loans, one for $390,300 in April 2020, the second for $546,400 on Jan. In 2020, Blake Street Tavern took in $2.3 million in sales, less than half of its normal revenue, even as Fuselier paid $42,000 a month in rent. Nobody was battling for parking or selling peanuts on the sidewalk. “I didn’t get any of that last year.” The only way you could tell the Rockies were playing last season was the glow from the stadium lights, Fuselier said. “I know there is going to be 81 days I can make money,” owner Chris Fuselier said about home games. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun)īlake Street Tavern is a block from Coors Field. Patrons enjoy food and drinks at Tom’s Watch Bar at Coors Field on June 26 in Denver.