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Is Opening Early on New Year's Day Worth It?
New Year's Day puts a bar in an odd spot. Your team closed late the night before, many of your regulars are moving slowly, and the first bowl games kick off before you would normally unlock the door. Showing New Year's Day bowl games at your bar can turn a quiet holiday into a full one. That only works if guests arrive early enough to cover the extra hours.
Ask three questions before you commit:
- What happened last year? If you were open on the holiday before, look at when the first tickets opened and when the room actually filled. A slow late morning that becomes a full house by mid-afternoon suggests opening, though maybe not at the first kickoff.
- Is there a local rooting interest? A nearby school with a strong alumni base, or a team your regulars follow all season, changes the math. A matchup between two distant programs usually draws a smaller, more casual crowd.
- Can your crew handle an all-day shift after a late night? A tired team running a long day makes mistakes with tabs, tickets and remotes.
If you can answer yes to two of the three, open with a lean crew and a short menu, then add people as the room fills. The same open-or-stay-closed reasoning appears in our holiday game day planning guide, and most of it carries over to the bowl season.
Running New Year's Day Bowl Games at Your Bar in Blocks
A bowl day is not a single event. It is a string of games that draw different crowds: early risers who want breakfast and the first kickoff, an afternoon wave that wants the marquee matchup, and a late group that settles in for the night game. Treat each stretch as its own block with its own plan.
Matchups and kickoff times change every year, so wait for the official schedule, then fill in a plan like this:
| Block | What's on | Screens | Sound | Staffing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening | Pregame and the first game | Main wall on the early game; one side screen on highlights or news | Low background, or the early game once the room is watching | Bar plus a server; kitchen on a short brunch-style menu |
| First overlap | Early game finishing, next game starting | Early game stays on the main wall; the new game starts on secondary screens | The game that is closer or has local interest | Add servers as tables turn over |
| Afternoon peak | The day's featured matchup | Every guest-facing screen on football, feature game on the biggest screens | Feature game | Full crew, a runner, and one person who owns the TVs |
| Evening | The late game | Main wall on the late game; side screens on replays or other football | Late game | Trim to a closing crew as the room thins |
Write the screen assignments onto a bar TV channel map so whoever is on shift can change the room without guessing.
Staggering Screens When Games Overlap
The hardest stretch on a bowl day is when one game runs long and the next one kicks off. Settle these rules before doors open:
- Don't pull a close game off the main wall for a kickoff. Start the new game on secondary screens and move it over at halftime or when the earlier game ends. Guests forgive missing a first drive; they rarely forgive losing a tight fourth quarter.
- Name one anchor screen. The largest, most visible screen carries whatever the room has agreed is the feature game. Everything else flexes around it.
- Give each zone a default. The bar rail might follow the local-interest game all day while the dining room follows the featured matchup. If fans of both teams in one game are coming, our notes on seating rival fans help you split the room without friction.
- Decide your overtime rule in advance. If a game goes long, staff should already know which screens stay put and which switch. Our piece on handling overtime and overlapping start times covers this in detail.
- Tell guests where to look. Number your screens and post which game is on which TV. A simple game schedule board near the door cuts down on channel requests during the busiest hours.
Sound: One Game at a Time, Posted in Advance
On a day with back-to-back games, the audio fight is predictable. Someone will want the sound on their game, and whoever is nearest the remote will be tempted to oblige. Make the call before the first kickoff instead.
A workable order for a bowl day: the game with local interest first, then the closer game in the final quarter, then the featured matchup. Write it down, post it behind the bar, and let staff point to it when a guest asks. If you run more than one audio zone, the bar can follow one game while a patio or back room follows another. Our fair audio policy for game days lays out how to set and explain that order.
During the opening block, when the room is half empty and people are eating, keep the volume modest. Turn it up when the room fills and the crowd starts reacting to plays, not before.
Staffing and Equipment for a Long Holiday
A bowl day can run from late morning to close, and the people who open should not be the people who close. Stagger shifts so openers leave as the afternoon crew arrives, and schedule your strongest servers for the peak block rather than the first hour.
Assign one person per shift to own the TVs. That person handles screen changes at each block, follows the sound order, and fixes problems so bartenders can keep pouring. If newer staff will be covering the holiday, a short walkthrough using our guidance on training staff on bar TVs prevents most of the small mistakes that cost a kickoff.
Test everything the day before, when you still have time to fix it:
- Power on every TV and receiver and confirm each one comes up on the right input.
- Tune each screen to the channel it will carry in the opening block.
- Put fresh batteries in every remote and label each remote with its screen number.
- Confirm any scheduled power-on settings still work; our guide to turning on all TVs at once explains how to set them up.
- Keep your support contact information somewhere every manager can find it.
Confirm Your Programming Before the Holiday
The screen plan only works if your commercial account actually carries the channels showing the games. Bowl games air across several channels, and the mix can shift from year to year. The time to find a gap is a few weeks out, not when the first game starts and one screen shows a subscription message.
Sports Direct is an authorized commercial dealer with 30+ years of experience helping bars and restaurants line up commercial TV for business. A programming specialist can review your current package against the holiday schedule, suggest adjustments, and coordinate equipment or installation help through our programming, equipment and support services, with technicians and engineers in all 50 states. When you are ready, start a conversation with our team.