Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning holds the Stanley Cup in Tampa, Florida., Sept. 30.
Photographer: Douglas P. DeFelice/-
Photographer: Douglas P. DeFelice/-
At first 2020 appeared prefer it was shaping as much as be an excellent yr for Denise Williams, chief advertising and marketing officer for Hooters Management Corp., which owns 11 eating places in the Tampa, Florida, space.
In March, she was two days away from a sponsorship at a PGA event that included internet hosting 10,000 visitors at a duplicate of a Hooters restaurant on the golf course. Williams had loads of different sports activities promotions deliberate, together with ticket giveaways, watch events and a weekly radio present with participant interviews broadcast from a restaurant. Then the coronarivus struck and shut every little thing down.
Hooters needed to shut for seven weeks final spring. When the eating places reopened, with restricted capability and different restrictions, gross sales had been nonetheless weak. Although companies throughout the U.S. have suffered an identical destiny, the pandemic was significantly exasperating for sports activities bars in Tampa. That’s as a result of the native groups have had their greatest yr ever.
First the Lightning received hockey’s Stanley Cup in September for under the second time of their 28-year historical past. Then the Rays made it to baseball’s World Series for simply their second time, dropping to the Los Angeles Dodgers in October. Football’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, rejuvenated by the addition of six-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady as quarterback, have additionally grow to be an enormous attraction. The Bucs face the New Orleans Saints in the NFL playoffs on Sunday.
“It was one hit after one other,” Williams stated of 2020. “We missed out on all the camaraderie and enjoyable of internet hosting these occasions.”
The Tampa Bay space, house to some 3.1 million individuals, is battling the virus and its fallout like different areas. Sales tax income in Hillsborough County, the place Tampa is predicated, declined about 10% in fiscal 2020. This yr it’s projected to fall 2%, in response to the county funds.
Florida shut down its eating places in mid-March. They had been permitted to reopen in May with restricted capability. By September, Governor Ron DeSantis allowed bars to open at full capability, though enterprise has been slower than pre-pandemic ranges.
Mark Ferguson, proprietor of 29-year-old Ferg’s Sports Bar & Grill in St. Petersburg, stated even when the Rays had their unhealthy years, site visitors from Tropicana Field simply throughout 1st Avenue saved him busy. Last yr, nonetheless, the Rays performed with cardboard cutouts of followers and the World Series was held in Texas.
But Ferguson tailored. He opened a takeout window and curbside service. He put in hand sanitizer dispensers and air purification tools. It’s been Ferg’s yard that has changed into his most beneficial participant, nonetheless.
About half of Ferg’s 84 TVs are positioned outdoors, the place Ferguson additionally affords a canine park and in good instances, ax-throwing competitions. With Covid, he located tables so small teams may sit collectively. While enterprise was down about 4% final yr, it will have been a lot worse had been it not for the efficiency of the native groups.
“We’ve been blessed,” he stated. “But we’d be much more blessed if we had followers at the video games.”
