Without The NFL, Who Will Drink Beer On Sundays?
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Jun 30, 2011 6:20PM
Chicagoans with a financial stake in the football season sent a message to NFL owners and players, asking them to come to a quick consensus and keep the season on schedule. Jerry Roper, head of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, estimates that the cancellation of a single exhibition game would mean at least $3 million in lost revenue, not including the millions spent by those watching from bars or from home.
On a normal Sunday, the River North sports bar Mother Hubbard’s is staffed by one bartender and one server. NFL Sundays require three bartenders, six servers and a door person. Local businesses that supply the bar’s meat, produce, beer and liquor also would suffer.
The city gets about $650,000 in tax revenue from a single game at Soldier Field. To put that into perspective, that could pay the salaries for a few of those 1,000 CPS teachers soon to be laid off -- with one game.
Training camp hosts in Bourbonnais, Ill., have a lot to lose, too. The mayor told the Sun-Times that their community will lose at least $1 million if the Bears don't come to their town this summer.