Of Punts an Pints
Super Suds Sales on Super Sunday
By Andy Ashby
 At The Scorecard Sports Bar & Grill, a neighborhood bar
close to downtown Jacksonville, Fla., they should know how to celebrate
the big game. That’s because last year, as viewed by millions of fans,
Jacksonville was the site of the NFL Super Bowl.
The bar’s owner, John Naunann, lived in Miami for years and has seen
his share of Super Bowl parties. So, when Jacksonville lost its Super
Bowl cherry, Naunann was prepared.
“Jacksonville was so different because it was kind of Thursday to
Sunday Super Bowl,” he says. “People flew in, and then they flew
out. In Miami, it was Sunday to Sunday. You could make it more of a
vacation because they have more hotel rooms.”
When a smaller city hosts a Super Bowl, a lot of work is not necessary
to pack crowds in your establishment. “All the bars were really
crowded, you really didn’t have to do a lot of promotions because there
weren’t a ton of places to party,” Naunann says.
Also, private parties held court at many bars, hosted by artists such as P. Diddy and Snoop Dogg.
“It’s not like a spring break where you have a half a million kids
nearby and you have to have something going on all the time,” Naunann
says. “At the Super Bowl, people come in to spend money. All you had to
do was turn on your open sign, and it was busy.”
For Everywhere Else
However, only one city gets the chance to host the Super Bowl each
year. Every other city’s establishments have to compete for customers
and profits. Fortunately, suppliers are operators’ best teammate at the
line of scrimmage.
Naunann remembers one cool promotion that Budweiser did during a year
the Super Bowl wasn’t in Jacksonville. Basically, they divided up the
city into five different sections and picked out 10 bars in each
section and held a contest to see which bar had the most people inside
at kickoff. At the winning bar, everyone inside got $5. Budweiser had
spotters at each location to make sure the winner was legitimate.
“What that did was increase our customers,” Naunann says. “Instead of
just a husband and wife coming in like they regularly would, they were
bringing in four or five extra people, hoping to get that extra money.”
Naunann also has had good luck with Miller Lite promotions. Although
Jacksonville has pretty strict laws against signage, the bar has gotten
plenty of other promotional material from the brewery. As far as
giveaways, Miller has been good to the Scorecard Sports Bar &
Grill, from shirts to key chains to beer coozies.
“During one Super Bowl, I had so much stuff to give away, I was just
throwing it at people,” Naunann says. “Anything we wanted, we
got. I had more stuff than I knew what to do with. I can only
imagine what the 10,000- square-foot places got.”
Give It Away Now
One thing that really helps boost beer sales for Naunann is giveaways.
He buys prizes and gives each customer a raffle ticket with the first
beer purchased.
“It’s crazy to realize how much money some people will pay on their tab
to get a basic DVD player,” he says. “Everybody wants to win
something.”
He held onto the good stuff, such as the DVD player and Jacksonville Jaguar tickets, for end of the game.
“That way, you can keep them there until the end of the game even if
it’s a blowout,” he says. “They stuck around, even though they had to
be at work on Monday.”
At Coaches Sports Grill in Albuquerque, N.M., Owner Ernie Blackstone
remembers one particular promotion that Budweiser did for the Super
Bowl.
“Three years ago, they brought all these full-length metal lockers into the bar,” he says.
When a customer would buy a Budweiser, her or she got a combination. The correct combination opened a locker full of gifts.
“That one went over really big,” Blackstone says. “They actually did it
through the playoffs, and people were dying to get into those lockers.”
He also offered $1 off bombers of Bud and Bud Light throughout the
promotion.
And of course, Coaches Sports Grill was full of beer decorations.
“Budweiser fills this place with all kinds of stuff, from banners to
buying us commercial time on local radio,” Blackstone says.
All-Day Touchdown Drive
The San Diego Sports Club prides itself on its neighborhood feel and
big Super Bowl parties. Tony Theodore owns the bar with his two
brothers, Robert and Nicholas. The place is a San Diego institution,
having been in the area for 70 years.
“When it comes to Super bowl parties, we go pretty much all out,” Theodore says. “It’s one of our major events.”
The SDSC has a pre-party on Saturday with two or three bands and also
opens at 9 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. That means customers have all
day to watch events on any of the bar’s 16 television screens. The bar
also has 16 draft beers, and Theodore claims to have the longest Happy
Hour in San Diego, with pitchers going for $5 from opening until 6 p.m.
“People can come in here with $20 and spend the whole day,” he says.
That special includes the Super Bowl.
Coors Light, the official beer of the NFL, handles the SDSC’s Super
Bowl promotions. This year, Coors Light girls will be coming to liven
up the party, and Coors also is sponsoring the bar’s NFL golf
tournament. Fans will be able to get in the spirit by trying to kick
the pigskin between field goal uprights in the parking lot outside the
bar, with a successful field goal earning the patron a $20 tab.
No matter which direction you take in your Super Bowl promotions, just
remember, you’re only limited by what you can imagine. Keep it fun, and
the huddled masses will venture past scrimmage and into your end
zone. NCB
Brewing Super Bowl Beer Profits
You’ve all been there, standing in front of tables upon tables of food
at your friend’s house during the Super Bowl. Outside of beer and the
actual game, a lot of food seems to be a constant at any good Super
Bowl party.
At Goldies on 45 in Seattle, they’ve taken this idea and brought it
into the bar to help accent their Super Bowl parties. Promotions
Coordinator Jeff Evans says Goldies has an annual buffet during the
Super Bowl, complete with everything from salad to spaghetti.
The venue charges a flat rate of $25, which includes some beer. “We
seem to have the same crowd each year and then some,” Evans says.
Of course, having 20 televisions helps draw a crowd. “Pretty much anywhere in the bar, you can see the game,” Evans says.
Evans also does a trivia promotion in which a correct answer gets the participant a drink at half price.
“People like that because it gets your noggin working,” Evans says.
As far as beer promotions, Evans says they’ve been happy with what
Miller has done for them over the years, raffling off everything from
Miller volleyballs to fold-out chairs.
“It works great, and people have a lot of fun when they’re calling out
tickets,” he says. “People also want memorabilia from the Super Bowl.”
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