A boost for local businesses
After a slow year, traffic to downtown bars and restaurants has seen a significant boost in the tournament’s first days.
As of March 1, bars are allowed to operate at 50% capacity for bar seating instead of 25% and restaurants can have 75% capacity for indoor seating, up from 50%. Outdoor capacity remains at 100%.
The District Tap saw a rush of customers Friday starting around 11 a.m. The wait was an hour and a half – and stayed that way into late evening.
“It’s like a being shot out of a cannon in a good way,” general manager Jeff Huron said.
The District Tap saw some increase in traffic from volleyball tournaments held in January and February, Huron said, but Friday’s March Madness rush seemed to be as busy or more so.
“Indianapolis downtown is convention-driven, sports-driven and event-driven. Without any of those things happening in much of the last year, it was much slower,” he said. “We’ve seen our business just over the last couple of months triple.”
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In between all the games, mobile users can play USA TODAY Sports’ Couchketball virtual hoops challenge – the interactive basketball game where your skills determine the outcome.
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