Hockey fans no longer need a ticket to Rogers Arena to watch a live Canucks game at the rink. Instead, in a North American first, spectators can walk in from Georgia Street to sit in a 14,000-square-foot bar that is open to the sights and sounds of a live game.
Accessed at 99 West Georgia between the two viaducts, the full name (and grammar) of the restaurant is The Sportsbar Live! At Rogers Arena. It opens to the public today as the Canucks host the Tampa Bay Lightning at 7 p.m.
Slumping ticket sales may not turn around until the Canucks’ on-ice performance does, but the Sportsbar is not an effort to drive those sales, said Michael Doyle, the president of hospitality and entertainment for the Aquilini Group.
“When the Canucks score, it will be exciting. The energy will bleed in to the restaurant,” he said. “I don’t see the Sportsbar as having a relation to ticket sales.”
Patrons won’t be able to access Rogers Arena without a ticket, but the nearly 524-seat restaurant has open viewing of the ice from the rink’s upper level. No glass partition separates walk-in diners and fans from live sports action, referee whistles, in-house entertainment and goals.
However, the 160 seats with direct, unobstructed views of the ice are ticketed. Prices start at $119. Tickets to Friday's game against the Lightening begin at $70.
The row closest to the ice was existing arena seating but by opening up a wall of the rink, the Sportsbar added an additional 105 seats with a second row as well as elevated bar seating.
One of the closest comparisons to the Sportsbar is found across the continent at a baseball diamond in Florida. The Clevelander at Marlins Park, the home of the National League Marlins, has capacity for 450 patrons, looks directly onto left field, and features a swimming pool (because it’s Miami).
Plans for The Sportsbar launched following the 2010 Olympic Games, and the franchise might have cashed in mightily had the development been open in time to cater to the riotous frenzy of the back-to-back Presidents’ Trophy-winning teams and the Stanley Cup run in 2011.
Alas, the Sportsbar is now attempting to give patrons more reasons than just the Canucks to dine in house.
There are more than 100 televisions, some massive and all in the latest technology. The bar is promoted as the longest in the city at the length of a regulation NHL blue line. There is craft beer and comfort food plus the promise of televising all the major sports championships. Booths are equipped with power outlets and chargers. There are perks for season ticket holders as well as a wall of 120 hockey sticks, 60 right-handed and 60 southpaw, from players the management considers the best in the game.
Chef Robert Bartley along with sous-chef Kat Wilson say they experimented with 120 different recipes and concepts to deliver a pub menu with 50 items, including 10 kinds of wings, specialty hot dogs, ribs, and a salad somewhat like the players eat. (The difference is the restaurant version is nicer to look at.)
Bartley described the large, double galley kitchen as “twinned,” which is why the kitchen staff calls one side Henrik and the other Daniel.
In the hot and cheesy wings, Wilson works six kinds of cheese and jalapenos for an all-natural version of the bight-orange cheese dispersed over nachos at corner stores. The wings come in classic flavours as well as cranberry and Jamaican jerk.
“The food always tastes better when the team is winning,” said Bartley.
