Sean O’Donnell is the managing partner of Flannery’s Pub.
He’s ordered more product than usual in anticipation of big crowds for Saturday’s playoff game between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees.
What You Need To Know
- Downtown Cleveland businesses are preparing for more traffic than usual for the Guardians’ ALDS home game
- Flannery’s Pub in Cleveland is expecting a packed bar, and is planning for overflow
- Destination Cleveland estimates that each home playoff game brings around $1 million in direct spending to the city
“It definitely helps this round being a primetime game 7:37 p.m.,” O’Donnell said. “Just the atmosphere downtown, it’s going to be nuts.”
Since the Yankees are involved, he’s expecting some out of town fans to make the trip, which only helps the odds of a packed bar.
“We think it’s gonna be somewhere (close) to last week, just bigger. Tampa Bay didn’t really travel that well, but New York definitely will,” O’Donnell said.
The Guardians swept the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild-Card Series in Cleveland last week.
More than a dozen televisions in the bar will have the game on, and pregame shows will be broadcast outside on the patio. He will have tents and heaters so he can make use of all the space.
“It’s going to be so packed in there, we just need a place for people to relax,” O’Donnell said.
In the bar’s back room, O’Donnell will have extra seats, so he can accommodate any overflow.
“People tend to pile up at the end where our service bar is,” O’Donnell said. “We’re trying to serve drinks to the whole restaurant and the servers can’t get through, so this kind of gives us another area to put people in to get them out of the way from the bar.”
Destination Cleveland estimates that each playoff game brings about $1 million in direct spending to the city.
