Championship Hockey Means Crowds And Dollars For Local Businesses
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Hours before game time, people gathered in front of the big screen, a sign this Stanley Cup Final game is bringing more people, and money, than ever to the Fifth Avenue business corridor.
"For a normal hockey game, it's wall-to-wall people," says Carly Moore at the Souper Bowl Restaurant & Lounge. "So, for this game, I think it'll be people on each other's shoulders."
And those people will spend cash.
"I'll probably end up spending a couple hundred dollars tonight," says Cody Locklin of Export.
Unlike regular season games, which empty out during the games, the Fifth Avenue bars will stay packed throughout the game.
"Couldn't get tickets in there tonight," Locklin told KDKA money editor Jon Delano. "My parents are going -- mom, dad, I love you, have fun tonight -- meeting up with a bunch of buddies, once they get off work, and we're going to have a good time and bring in a Stanley Cup win tonight."
At Buford's Kitchen, Nickie Kredel doubled her employees and tripled her beer supply.
"Just in our beer tubs alone, we'll sell 60 to 65 cases of 16 ounce aluminum bottles today. On a regular home game, I sell 20, 15 to 20," says Kredel.
Everything's doubled except beer and food prices, but other prices have shot up.
KDKA found parking near Consol for $50, and this gentleman couldn't find an affordable ticket to the game.
"He wanted $3,000 a piece," complained Kenneth Dutko of Uptown.
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It's not just bars and restaurants that expect to do well tonight.
How about Smoker Friendly, a cigar bar right across the street from Consol Energy Center.
To celebrate the victory this evening, what about a Padrone cigar for $26?
Sales clerk Ryan McNamara says they were short-staffed.
"It's been pretty busy, pretty much all day long," says McNamara.
But that didn't stop the early afternoon fun for some gentlemen from Canada, who turned out to be Sidney Crosby's cousins and his Uncle Harry Forbes.
"It's a pretty exciting day, for sure, for us all to be here to see this. Pittsburgh's a great town. It's unbelievable how exciting it is, and you can feel it in the air here in Pittsburgh," said Forbes.