COLORADO SPRINGS – On Thursday night the NFL season officially kicked off and for local businesses, it’s the
start to one of the busiest times of the year.
Football is a huge moneymaker for restaurants, bars, and pizza delivery joints. Owners told News 5 that once the Broncos take the field business increases a lot. With the season kickoff, they’re hoping for packed houses and a flood of food orders.
Tyler Sherman, co-owner of The Bench, said, “I know I for one have been waiting for football forever.”
Rita Keller, bartender at Heidi’s Sports Bar & Grill, said, “I think everybody’s really excited. We’re hoping for a good year. Broncos! Woot! Woot!”
Louie Sciarrotta, owner of Louie’s Pizza, said, “It’s a nice shot in the arm during the NFL season…it’s great to have football back again. It increases business quite a bit.”
During a typical game day at Louie’s Pizza there’s no shortage of pies being sold.
“One location, probably about 200 pizzas and between all the stores over a thousand pizzas.”
How successful the Broncos are plays a big role.
“When the Broncos are having a great year our business increases probably about 40 to 50 percent on game days.”
It wasn’t the case last year.
“It wasn’t the greatest. We slowed down a little bit during the games.”
The question for fans now is if the Broncos will make a comeback?
Richard Lorenzen, a customer at The Bench, said, “That’s the best part about today is nobody knows what’s going to happen so we’ll see.”
Heidi’s Sports Bar & Grill hoped for a packed house on Thursday night.
Keller said, “Everybody’s excited for the beginning. First Broncos game’s probably the busiest.”
For Sherman, getting his new business, The Bench, off the ground is important.
“Football season, we feel, is going to be critical for our growth going forward…I can’t wait for just regular games coming every week…I think it’s going to be tremendous.”
Businesses are already prepping for Sunday when the Broncos take on the Seahawks. They’re expecting even more traffic then.
