Edmonton, Calgary Bars and Restaurants Profiting from the NHL Playoffs | The Canadian News

While it’s no secret that hockey fans have thrown their weight behind their favorite Alberta NHL team with both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames in the postseason, it turns out those playoff runs are translating. in huge profits for local bars and restaurants. .

Moneris Solutions recently released data showing spending at bars and restaurants in both cities rose sharply during the first round of the playoffs.

“The last time I saw something like this was before the pandemic, really. So very good news for the economy and signs of things to come, hopefully,” said Peter Goldsztajn, vice president of corporate data and analytics at Moneris Solutions.

“It’s all good for business.”

Moneris analyzed spending in bars and restaurants in both cities near the stadium, as well as in the rest of the city. According to Moneris, spending at bars and restaurants near Rogers Place in Edmonton more than doubled during Games 1 and 5 of the first-round series against the LA Kings.

“That’s very interesting,” Goldsztajn said. “It appears that even when the team loses, the city wins (in) spending, which is an interesting finding.”

During Games 2 and 7, when the Oilers won, spending at establishments near Rogers Place increased 60 percent.

During Calgary’s first-round series against the Dallas Stars, Moneris found that food and beverage spending near the Saddledome translated into a 32 percent increase, while there was a 13 percent increase at establishments in the rest of the country. the city.

Spending during Game 1 of the Flames’ first-round series jumped 65 percent at bars near the arena. During Game 7, bars had the biggest increase: 68% more in bars near the arena.

Goldsztajn said that one in three transactions in Canada is captured through Moneris point-of-sale devices. The company measured the area near each of the sands, identifying the Forward classification areas (FSA), then did the same with the rest of the city.

“Every time you tap your card, swipe it, enter your PIN, we would be capturing that through the POS terminal. So it’s pretty instantaneous and accurate.”

David Robertson is the General Manager of Smoke BBQ + Bar in Edmonton’s Ice District, just a block from Rogers Place.

“It was wild. We were busy as hell. It was an experience,” Robertson said of business during the first round of the playoffs. “Nothing really prepared us for the first round. He was very, very busy. Welcome, indeed, especially after all the difficulties with COVID and all.”

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The business has extended hours on match days to meet demand. They have also opened a back room for overflow. Robertson said the pub is seeing a 25 percent increase in business right now.

“It’s wonderful. You can see that all the businesses in this area are really thriving.”

With such a prime location, the business has not only seen an increase in people coming to watch the games, Robertson said they’ve also seen an increase in people coming after the games at Rogers Place.

“That’s scary. Opening the door on a busy night, you can have 1,000 people just show up at once and you’re trying to manage what’s going to happen and see what tables are available,” he said. “It’s exciting… It’s the best there is”.

Concordia University economist Moshe Lander said each playoff game in Edmonton and Calgary generates more than $1 million from ticket sales alone. When you factor in spending on concessions, parking, apparel, bars and restaurants, he said a playoff series could generate $5 million to $10 million for the local economy, most of which is concentrated within a square mile of the arena.

“For anyone who is in downtown Edmonton and has been struggling with COVID issues for the last two years, the fact that they may be looking at $5 million to $10 million worth of economic activity is great news for them. ”.

However, he added that increased spending in some areas is likely to have the opposite effect in other areas of the economy.

“You may find that West Edmonton Mall is saying we don’t get as much foot traffic these days because people are staying away, they’re using their money on game tickets or game merchandise instead of local retailers,” Lander said. . .

“Money is disappearing from somewhere. So when you put everything out on the net, it’s not as big as you think. Even if you want to tell me that, ‘Hey, there’s a whole group of tourists in Red Deer who go to Calgary or go to Edmonton and watch the game.’ All right, that brings a net positive for Edmonton and Calgary, but it means that Red Deer is going to find that their economy has slowed down surprisingly because of the Battle of Alberta because those Red Deer residents aren’t spending locally, they’re now spending in the big cities.”

And while there are some significant “warm emotions” coming from the first playoff Battle of Alberta in more than 30 years, Lander said it will soon be over for one team, causing a “hangover effect.”

“That can create a little bit of fear and there is some data that suggests when your team is eliminated, talk to the Toronto fans, there is a little bit of doom and gloom for a week or so. And you can even see kind of a visible drop in economic activity because the team was eliminated,” Lander explained.

“I’m not saying that this triggers a recession or anything like that, there are a lot of other economic engines that are going to generate our coming recession, but you can see there is that dip.”

Goldsztajn said he anticipates restaurant and bar spending to have continued in the second round, particularly given the Battle of Alberta rivalry.

“The Battle of Alberta, that’s certainly exciting,” he said. “It brings happiness. People like to go out, socialize, and especially with the excitement of the Battle of Alberta, I definitely see a push to continue, no question about it.

“It’s an exciting time for hockey, the playoffs always are. So I think it’s going to continue.”

The company plans to capture similar data this round, creating a Battle of Alberta of its own.

“We can pit cities against each other to see who spends the most, regardless of who wins the actual game,” Goldsztajn said.