"We're excited to have everyone back": 2022 World Cup is a boon for Sacramento bars and restaurants
SACRAMENTO -- World Cup fans have no ideal time zone. If the match is on they'll be there to represent their team. In Sacramento, bars and restaurants are dusting off their old playbooks for the occasion.
"We were open eight years ago so we completely remember how busy it was for those 8 or 9 a.m. games," said Calvin Lam, a manager at Public House Downtown.
The bar is one of the two de facto bars for Team USA watch parties during the World Cup. Public House opens an hour earlier than normal for the event but already saw a rush for the first match against Wales on Monday. The United States didn't qualify for the tournament in 2018 so this will be the first time in eight years the bar will have a crowd tuned in solely for the red, white and blue.
"For four years ago, it's definitely a little bit busier," Lam mentions.
Over at Zocalo, you could see USA jerseys during the Monday lunch rush but it was nothing compared to Tuesday morning. While the Mexican national team kicked off at 8:00 a.m., the midtown restaurant was packed to the windows with fans supporting 'El Tri'.
"Five a.m.," one patron told CBS13 of when he woke up for the match. "Five a.m., I've been drinking since 6."
Zocalo has staffers come in early for the Mexico games, specifically.
"What we do is we condense the menu a little bit," said Assistant General Manager Nolan Sarabia. "Full bar so you guys can order shots, beer and all that good stuff. But we do have like three items — the brunch tacos, chilaquiles and breakfast burrito — to eat in the morning."
It's also the first World Cup after the pandemic and one of the first worldwide mass-viewing events in bars and restaurants.
"Who doesn't like to be surrounded with people who love the same sport?" explains Jose Saldana, who went to watch the game before heading to work. "It's great. After being locked up for what, two years, two years and a half, it's great to see how people are comfortable again."
On the back end of the lost revenues from COVID-19 and the rise of remote work in the Sacramento area, any big event that brings people to the bars is a boon for business.
"It has a great feeling, especially with not that many office workers coming back to downtown. Any kind of rush is going to be awesome for us," Lam said.
"Everyone being able to go out and enjoy parties with all their families and everybody, so we're excited to have everyone back again," adds Sarabia.
The World Cup group stages continue for the next two weeks before the tournament concludes with the final on December 18.
