The Brickyard Bar in Millcreek is usually packed with Utes fans on game days. Drinks flow. Food zips around on trays and reaches hungry patrons. Cheers reverberate across the sports bar’s three floors with every Utes touchdown or basket.
But Saturday afternoon will be different. Saturday afternoon is when the University of Utah football team plays Ohio State in the school’s first-ever Rose Bowl appearance.
“It should be probably a record-breaking day in sales for us since we opened about three years ago as the Brickyard Bar,” said Laura Kelly, manager of the bar formerly known as Lumpy’s.
Many local sports bars are getting ready for larger-than-normal crowds and higher revenue on the day the Utes face the Buckeyes — from businesses lesser known for game-day activities to those considered “Utes fan bars.” Here are a few places to gather with the Utah faithful.
[Related: Intermountain Healthcare infectious disease specialist warns against large NYE gatherings]
Brickyard Bar
3000 S. Highland Drive
The Black Sheep, which has two locations in West Jordan and Salt Lake City, usually sees large crowds on Utah football game days like the Brickyard Bar does. But due to the gravity of the Utes being in the Rose Bowl, both locations will make a special event out of it.
Black Sheep co-owner Samantha Hoffman said the brunch menu will extend into the afternoon. The SLC location in Foothill Village will raffle off a Utes cooler. There will be balloons and giveaways of shirts and other swag. Fans will have a chance to win gift cards to the bar by trying their luck on a football board.
Hoffman said both locations will be at full capacity, even with the extra tables the staff will add to accommodate the larger crowds. She suggests patrons to arrive as early as possible.
“We get pretty busy for all Utes games,” Hoffman said. “This one, though, with it being the Rose Bowl and how they started off the season and getting to where they’re at now, I think everybody’s excited about it.”
Hoffman also anticipates revenue will go up compared to a typical game day.
“We’re projecting 30% above a typical game,” she said.
Black Sheep Bar and Grill
Salt Lake City: 1400 S. Foothill
West Jordan: 1520 W 9000 South
At Legends, manager Angie Pawlick said no reservations will be taken because she is expecting to be 100% full on Saturday. She added that there will be raffles during the game, which does not occur during normal game days.
“I think that with just the Utes being in the Rose Bowl [it] is going to have a major impact,” Pawlick said, “So I think rather than just a regular game day, it’s just a bigger game for them, so it’ll be a bigger game for us.”
Legends
677 S. 200 West
Even brand new establishments are getting into the Utes game-day-experience business. Flanker Kitchen and Sporting Club, which opened just three weeks ago, is hosting an official event with ESPN700 for the Rose Bowl. The Salt Lake City 21-and-over venue boasts a unique experience that features intimate seating in its sporting club and plenty of entertainment such as karaoke rooms and sports simulators.
The Rose Bowl will be the first Utes football event for Flanker. It will include a special “Tailgate Menu” that’s available at the sporting club, which includes a $250 minimum for a table. But the menu will also be served in the restaurant and parlor areas, which have no spending minimum. There is no cover charge at Flanker.
“It’s basically kind of a theater of energy and intimate settings for anyone who wants to watch the game,” said Steven Lockwood, director of marketing at Flanker.
Flanker Kitchen and Sporting Club
The Gateway, 6 N. Rio Grande St.
Sports bars and restaurants around the country struggled last year during the heart of the pandemic when sports were canceled for months and stay-at-home orders were common. For most of 2021, schedules returned to normal for the most part and businesses have started to recover.
But with the latest surge of coronavirus cases across the country due to the omicron variant, sports are again starting to get affected. NBA players are missing games seemingly every day, three BYU basketball games have been postponed and college football bowl games have been canceled. All the public statements to this point suggest that the Utes are doing everything possible to avoid their game getting canceled due to the coronavirus. But if the worst does happen and the Rose Bowl can’t go as planned, it will adversely affect the local sports bar scene in Salt Lake County.
Hoffman, though, did not seem too worried about that possibility.
“We aren’t too concerned,” Hoffman said. “Better to plan for the best outcome and adjust if it doesn’t happen. I would feel bad for the players and fans on both teams.”