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Budweiser Bowtie Bar will be first new
restaurant or bar built at park since '08 |
Anheuser-Busch InBev and the Pirates will “open a new 5,000-square-foot bar and lounge in the right field corner” of PNC Park that will be available to all ticket holders, according to Mark Belko of the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE. The Budweiser Bowtie Bar will be the “first new restaurant or bar built at the park since the Hall of Fame Club replaced Outback Steakhouse" in '08. It is expected to be ready by Opening Day on April 5. On game days, the Pirates “will make available half of the bar and lounge for rent to groups of 50 or more.” On days when that space is rented, the “other half will be available to any fan with a ticket.” The Pirates said that the improvements “will cost more than $500,000 but less than $1 million.” They are being paid for “by the team, Anheuser-Busch and concessionaire Aramark” (
PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 1/31). In Pittsburgh, Rob Biertempfel notes the new venue is “part of a three-year extension" of A-B's corporate partnership. It will be the “first full-service bar on the main concourse level of the ballpark” (
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 1/31). Pirates President Frank Coonelly said that the bar “replaces an old space containing about 20 permanent seats that went largely unused for Pirates games.” The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Don Muret notes the new design, with “a U-shaped bar as the centerpiece, doubles the amount of space to 5,000 square feet.” Fans in front “will have views [of] the game, and the back of the bar extends over the Allegheny River.” A rear glass wall “provides protection from winds coming off the river.” Coonelly said that the Pirates “will first market the bar to groups of 50 to 90 people, segregating them from regular ticket holders.” For those games where groups “are not reserving space in the bar, the team plans to sell roughly 35 individual game tickets for seats in the bar with a food and beverage credit stored in the bar code” (
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 1/30 issue).
