If the NCAA tournament is a high holiday for sports gamblers and office poolers, it’s a sustained miracle for local pub owners.
“We’re expecting a big blitz,” said Chris McCray, manager of the Glory Days Grill in Germantown. “With the tournament going on, you’ve got people coming in from lunch all the way through dinner because they want to see the game.”
All over the region, wait staff and bartenders are girding their loins for massive crowds. But don’t feel they’re dreading it.
“They’re smiling,”
Buffalo Billiards
Kevin DePuis, general manager at Alexandria’s
Lucky’s Tavern
Restaurant and pub owners agree, though, that, unlike any other time of the year, the crowds get thickest during the day as local workers come in to keep an eye on their brackets.
“They’ll call up and try and reserve a seat at the bar,” said Bob Beaulieu, owner of the famed Post Pub in downtown D.C.
That means working harder, earlier, but it also means that the work isn’t as stressful, Valadez said.
“A lot of them are day games, so nobody’s getting too drunk,” he said.
The bracket-ology that has taken over office life has also been good for business, Glory Days’ McCray said. With co-workers in pools, they’re much more eager to watch the games together. That means gathering at the local bar, he said.
“With DVI and TiVo, you can catch up,” he said. “But it’s nothing like watching it live.”
