True, straightforward Sports Bar....ever?

[mmonroe]

Coach's = family restaurant, IMO.

Things that make a sports bar, IMO:

1. Smoking section, to me, screams BAR!! No smoking section in Coach's unless you sit outside, and I'm not even sure if you can there.
2. Ability to be loud without people looking at you funny. Coach's is more like a restaurant in this regard.
3. Most importantly- people actually treat it as a destination to go watch sports. I've never once heard anyone say, "Let's go to Coach's in Bricktown to watch XYZ."
4. The TV situation Solitude discussed. Go to BWW in Moore, go into the bar area, and see all the RANDOM sports on TV. You can tell that's the focus. You know they'd put soccer or horse racing on before they'd just turn off the TV. At Coach's, TV's aren't the focus unless you're sitting at the bar.

Mainly, what I'm thinking is a place where my buddies would want to go. Primarily a guy haven where you can have a cigarette, a bucket of beer, and if there's a good game on, people are hollering at the screen a bit. We don't want to worry about offending children and families, etc. An adult place to go hang out with a primary focus on sports, but the kind of place a group might go to on a Friday night for drinks. Tapwerks is great, but it's definitely not a focus there as much as premium beers. Coach's is OK, except it caters to the family restaurant crowd. Hooters doesn't have quite the TVs they need, the waitstaff is typically not very good at waiting tables, and the beer is expensive. I mean, what else is there in Bricktown now? Halftime is VERY meh; not enough TVs there, and bad service. It doesn't have to be super-cool hip, but I would like something that's not hokey or family-oriented. As an example- the Iron Starr....that's not really a family style restaurant. Sure, kids are welcome and you see them there all the time, but they don't cater to child. They cater to adults.

Just want to throw this out there, I use to work at Coach's as a server.

Anywhere you sit, there is a viewable TV, there may not be a lot, 10 total not including the bar area, and the big cube at the bar. You can sit outside, we have two patios, to smoke, just no TV's.

Being loud in Coach's, you must have not eaten there during an OU game. Families and Bar patrons scream out Boomer Sooner and Texas Sucks together no matter what's going on during the game. It can get pretty loud to say the least.

When some places are closed or packed, or arn't supporting the sports channel games are on, people come to Coach's. Provided that our only set back is that we don't have ESPNU and a few of the other networks. This is mostly covered by Half Time. They pretty much have ALL the sports channels.

TV's are covered at Coach's, it's the sound that can be a problem.
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As far as I know, the people who own Coach's, Old Chicago, and the Bricktown Brewery are all owned by the same company. I think it's Restraunt Limited, LLC.

[solitude]

Just want to throw this out there, I use to work at Coach's as a server.

Anywhere you sit, there is a viewable TV, there may not be a lot, 10 total not including the bar area, and the big cube at the bar. You can sit outside, we have two patios, to smoke, just no TV's.

Being loud in Coach's, you must have not eaten there during an OU game. Families and Bar patrons scream out Boomer Sooner and Texas Sucks together no matter what's going on during the game. It can get pretty loud to say the least.

When some places are closed or packed, or arn't supporting the sports channel games are on, people come to Coach's. Provided that our only set back is that we don't have ESPNU and a few of the other networks. This is mostly covered by Half Time. They pretty much have ALL the sports channels.

TV's are covered at Coach's, it's the sound that can be a problem.
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As far as I know, the people who own Coach's, Old Chicago, and the Bricktown Brewery are all owned by the same company. I think it's Restraunt Limited, LLC.

Compare that with a Champps Sports Grill, where there aren't just TVs but HUGE flat screen TVs all over with many other smaller screens. It's not just about a few TVs - it's about the whole experience. Surrounded by big, big screens help make that experience.

[tigers08]

You know Coach's, Bricktown Brewery, Hooters, and half-time are not sports bars. They have very limited HDTV, not to mention horrible acoustics and sound in the bar. Coach's still has some weird cube thing TV going on behind the bar. It is pathetic and in my opinion the best place to watch a game is at the deep deuce for the pure fact they turn up the sound the sound, they have HD and awesome bartenders. The bad thing is you have to get there early to get a seat and it is very small. I would like to see an Irish Sports Bar in bricktown. We are in need a good Irish Pub that is more intimate than Tapwerks(plus they have horrible heat and air) and a sports bar, so combine the two and everyone wins!

[mmonroe]

I wasn't really trying to compare, but giving a perspective on what bricktown has as far as a "sports bar". But we really don't have one. Coach's has upgraded some of their regular TV's to widescreen lcd's in the past couple of month. When I worked there, they decided against taking out the cube thing because a new system would cost upwards around 16 grand. But that's with the lame manager Eric doing the pricing. Half time on the other hand, is probably one of the few places to carry a lot of the networks, HD or not.

[MikeOKC]

I agree that right now there is no pure sports bar. I sure would like to see one though.

[Stinger]

Good sound is a must. TVs aren't enough. The sports bar experience isn't complete unless you have to yell over the commentators.

[mmonroe]

Let's all meet at the SBA and get this done the right way.

[metro]

Has anyone ever been to BG Boltons? Is that any good?

[sroberts24]

I love BG Boltons, lots of TV's pretty good food....

what i would like to see in the bricktown area more than anything is a Dave and Busters.... they are always fun for everyone it has a sports bar feel and very attractive for the entire family but also more directed towards college students and up! i think that would be great for bricktown

[Mr. T in OKC]

Al Eschbach's place in bricktown was as close to a sportsbar as bricktown had, however, it only lasted a few months if that. It wasn't really a true sports bar but definately sports themed. I wonder if the failure of that business has people scared to take a chance right now?

[Easy180]

Has anyone ever been to BG Boltons? Is that any good?

I liked the place and like sroberts said it has lots of plasmas all over the place...Food is good and the beer is reasonable...Nice place to watch a game, but I'm not sure if they are busy enough to survive...Seen some pretty lean lunch crowds

[mmonroe]

Could be Mr. T.

[Turanacus]

I always bitch about OKC not having any decent sports bar. Coach's is very weak, they close way too early, they don't have any sports packages, such as NBA League Pass. Even when the Hornets where here, most of the "sports bars" couldn't get the games on TV because they didn't have Cox Cable. BW3 is the closest thing to a sports bar that OKC has and it shows, they are always consistently way too packed -- If a good sports bar where in town, they'd make a mint because the wing place is their ONLY competition.

[Turanacus]

Al Eschbach's place in bricktown was as close to a sportsbar as bricktown had, however, it only lasted a few months if that. It wasn't really a true sports bar but definately sports themed. I wonder if the failure of that business has people scared to take a chance right now?

The failure of Eschbach's shouldn't scare anyone away, as long as a restaurant has servers that actually treat the customers decently, avoid dumb-as-dirt managers, and stock the food that's on the menu, they will do better than Eschbach's. It was a miracle that this place lasted over a month, I couldn't believe how bad this place was. Restaurants are easy - you just have to clean out all of the stupid to make it work.

[OKCMallen]

Eschbach's was not a good place to eat. It was decent on campus corner in Norman, but once it moved up here, it just wasn't very good. It was never very comfortable in there. The set-up in that space is similar to ACME Oyster House in New Orleans, and to succeed, it might need food as good.

Did anyone call Champps yet?

[Lord Helmet]

I would seriously be cool with just a big BWW in Bricktown...

I'd be for that.

As far as ESPN Zone...I don't think I'd ever go there.

[centaurian]

Maybe someone will open one up and just call it "The Sport Bar. "
Pretty simple and it can t be confused as a family restaurant.

[LIL_WAYNE_4_PREZIDENT08]

ESPN Zone should be the ultimate goal for downtown

But I wouldnt mind seeing a bigger version of the current Buffalo Wild Wings we have now with better tv's than those crappy projection things they have

[Pete]

Held an event last Friday at the Fox & Hound and it was absolutely heaving well after midnight when I left.

They have dozens of TV's, all tuned to sports and it's a "21 and over" place.

[Sin Wagon]

Why is it that there are no good sports bars? Its crazy, because this is such a sports crazy town. I think that it just hasn't been done right, yet. Maybe everyone is only into OU, OSU, and the Dallas Cowboys, who are always shown on local TV, so there is no need to go out to watch games. Still, its inexplicable because I went to school in Gainesville, Florida which has at least 3 or 4 sports bars better than the best ones in OKC and is about 1/8 of the population.

To be qualified as a sports bar, it must have satellite with access to all the college football games, international soccer, and most importantly have NFL Sunday ticket and every game must be displayed on at least one TV. The Varsity was pretty good, but their TVs were old and not very bright.

This is the best sports bar I have ever been to: Imagine Irish pub feel, awesome beer selection, great New Orleans food, and every screen is a big, bright Plasma or LCD HD.

Cooter Browns

[ssandedoc]

The Daiquiri Zone closed because of tax evasion and a lot of other shaddy stuff. They did not card when I went there. That was a big draw for me and my friends. I miss the days of going to the Zone and getting a good drink while watching the TVs.

[kevinpate]

I suspect one reason sports bars do not prevail is the thousands of come and go private clubs. We've all been to them, and we all have our favorites.

Small clubs, tightly bonded members, decent grub, and killer entertainment value. Yeppers, I speak of the private home living room or home theater clubs where friends gather for games, for pizza or bbq, friendships, chips and drink.

It seems fair to say we're a wee bit spoiled.

[OKCMallen]

Maybe once the NBA team is named, someone can theme a far off that.