Fayetteville Sports Bars Battle For Customers

Round two of Fayetteville’s sports bar battle is underway.

Coach’s Sports Grill, in Whistle Stop Plaza on Gregg Street in Fayetteville, has been the only game in town since January when Cuckoo’s on Razorback Road went out of business. But three weeks ago, Hog City Diner turned its basement into Hog City Sports.

“We thought there was room enough for another sports bar in Fayetteville,” Hog City general manager Mark Diminuco says. “We went to other sports bars in Dallas and Tulsa to see what other places were having success with. Overall, business has been really good, and we feel like it’s really going to take off with football season.”

Sales for both businesses dropped off during the summer, attributable mostly to the departure of University of Arkansas students between semesters. Summer sports such as baseball and golf also don’t lend themselves to television like football and basketball do.

Coach’s, built in 1997, had an estimated gross sales of $343,000 in the first six months of this year based on its hotel, motel and restaurant tax remittance of $3,430. That’s down from last year, but both businesses are gearing up for what they expect to be a profitable and competitive fall.

“You can’t rest on your laurels in the sports bar business,” says Kevin Keating, general manager and part owner of Coach’s. “As soon as you think you’re the only one, there’s going to be two or three people looking to open another one right behind you.”

Hog City Sports, a private venture of Michael Watkins and Michael O’Brian of Tulsa, features 40 televisions, including two 50-inch screens and one 100-inch screen.

The 3,500-SF downstairs bar and restaurant (together, the two levels contain 10,000 SF of space) is in the center of the Fayetteville square and was formerly known as the Old Post Office restaurant.

Hog City Sports has already scored a major coup d’etat before doing any advertising. KKEG-FM Radio’s Sports Talk, recently rated Northwest Arkansas’ No. 1 sports talk show by Arbitron, began broadcasting live on Mondays from Hog City Sports.

Chuck Barrett is the host of the show, which features local sports authorities Dudley E. Dawson and Clay Henry of Hawgs Illustrated as well as University of Arkansas coach Houston Nutt’s Razorback Report.

“We expect the show is going to help business greatly,” Diminuco says. “It will bring in not only people who listen to the station but fans and, hopefully, Razorbacks athletes themselves.”

Both bars are trying to avoid mistakes that were made by Cuckoo’s. The restaurant’s building is currently listed by RE/MAX Associates for $499,900. Service and food quality were apparently a problem at Cuckoo’s, so Hog City and Coach’s are paying special attention to those areas.

Both bars are keeping overhead down with medium-priced, simple menus that feature burgers, chicken wings, quesadillas and a wide variety of quick and easy appetizers. Both are also catering to the business community.

Coach’s, a 4,482-SF building with 28 TVs, has a lounge that may be rented for private meetings. One section includes video games, pool tables and a tournament-size shuffle board table, but the other end of the restaurant lends itself to a more formal atmosphere with a cigar lounge, leather couch and fireplace.

“The business crowd is definitely one of our main customer groups,” Keating says. “We’re not open for lunch, but a lot of Fayetteville and Springdale corporations spend a lot of money here bringing people down for dinner meetings.”

Hog City Sports is capitalizing on its downtown location to draw the business lunch crowd. A new patio under construction, that will feature a fireplace and a fountain, is expected to be completed before winter.

“The square has such great character and pedestrian qualities,” Watkins says. “We’ve signed a 25-year lease and when the new downtown civic center and Tiny Tim’s microbrewery are completed, business here on the square will really blossom.”