Attendance in sports bars declining

By: Jaclyn Harris
Date: 01/15/2005
Web posted at: 12:00 p.m. EDT

Sports bars in the Toronto area, and all over Ontario, have been experiencing a decline in business due to the current NHL lockout.

     According to www.money.canoe.ca, since October 2004 there has been a 2 percent decrease in staff members at sports bars in Toronto alone. There has also been an estimated loss of $2 million in revenue generated by a regular hockey season.

     In Belleville, the major feeling around town seems to be the NHL is not missed and hockey fans are finding other ways to satisfy their sports appetite. There have also been no staffing changes in Belleville or Trenton because of the lockout.

     Paul Laibley, owner of Copperfields in Belleville, has noticed that fewer crowds are coming out on hockey nights, but has not noticed any decline in business.

     Laibley said there are a variety of other sports on TV this time of year, and feels his regular customers are satisfied with what they offer at the bar: basketball, football and golf. He believes that his customers are aware that there is no NHL and expect to go to Copperfields to have a good time regardless.

     "There's always other sports on," he said. "A lot of our customers are pretty sports oriented, so they watch what's available."

     He also said that the world junior hockey championship recently gave his customers a taste of hockey. He had noticed a small pickup in business.

     "We love our hockey," he said.

     Laibley has been focusing on other things, like the upcoming Super Bowl as well as changing up his weekly schedule to include a variety of DJs coming in on different nights of the week.

     Head Chef Paul Rhindress, of Wahoo Sports Bar in Trenton, said that he has noticed a sharp decline in business in the bar area of Wahoo, but the restaurant business has actually picked up.

     "The restaurant is busy, but the bar is dead now. It used to be the other way around," he said.

     Rhindress said that there was no noticeable pick up in business as a result of the world junior tournament.

     He said that there is no NHL promotions going on at the bar, and they are enticing sports fans by offering cheap wings and deals on pitchers of beer. He also said that Wahoo would be playing up the Super Bowl.

     At the Slapshot in Belleville, bartender Erin Carleton said that she has not seen any decline in business as they have many regular customers who have no preference for hockey.

     "They watch whatever is on," she said.

     She said that they have started showing sports by request, like NASCAR racing and more recently the world junior tournament.

     The Slapshot also plans to play up the Super Bowl in order to take the attention away from the NHL situation.