PITTSBURGH — It won’t be long now before the crack of the bat and roar of the crowd echo throughout the North Shore.
Opening Day’s big crowd means big business for bars and restaurants around PNC Park.
“This is when the craziness of the summer all begins,” Mike’s Beer Bar and North Shore Tavern owner Mike Sukitch said. “Opening Day is always the busiest day of the year.”
Sukitch and his team have been preparing for the craziness for a while now. This time of year is big for the bottom line.
“We think a lot about these seasons being about going out and having fun but there are a lot of people whose livelihoods depend on baseball,” Assistant Manager Nick Mitchell said.
How big is it? Sukitch tells Channel 11 they do two-thirds of the year’s business during baseball season. A big reason for the reliance on baseball is proximity. Mike’s and North Shore Tavern are located just feet from PNC Park.
“They average 16,000 fans a game. They’re hoping to get that up. If 16,000 fans go to the game, at least 300 of them are coming in here. Two percent come to the closest place,” Mitchell said.
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