Avs playoff run brings a boost in business to Colorado sports bars

DENVER (KDVR) — With the Colorado Avalanche on a quest for the Stanley Cup, Denver-area businesses are already cashing in on the team’s success this season. 

“It can’t help but help us,” Matt Bradshaw, manager at Brooklyn’s at Ball Arena, said. 

The sports bar and restaurant is located right outside the Avs’ home ice, where 17,000 fans showed up Thursday to support their team.

“We’re the last stop before anybody goes in and the first stop when they come back out,” Bradshaw said. 

Fans without a ticket are also heading out to establishments like Brooklyn’s to be close to Ball Arena, to be among other fans and to have access to viewing the game. 

“It increases our business by 15, 20 percent, easily,” Bradshaw said. 

They were full by 3 p.m. ahead of Thursday night’s game with a waitlist stretching past puck drop.

NHL playoffs pose a challenge for busy bars

“With how little this happens it’s almost like a once in a lifetime opportunity because it’s been so long since the last time,” Avalanche fan William Meis said. 

“These are all our friends. We shared our national game with them, now they’re part of us,” said Darren Giacobbo, an Oilers fan who traveled to Denver from Edmonton for the game. “They might wear different colors but they still love the game and so do we.” 

While Brooklyn’s is enjoying an influx of business, playoffs also pose a challenge in planning ahead since no one knows how many more games there will be. 

“It’s crazy, for scheduling and for ordering,” he said. 

When the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001, Bradshaw said Brooklyn’s had to schedule emergency orders with vendors since so many fans showed up. 

“The last time I had beer deliveries, I had three different beer deliveries in one day from both Coors and Budweiser because we couldn’t keep up,” he said. 

Bradshaw said it’s a good problem to have. 

“Yeah it is, because eventually it’s gonna end,” he said.