Sports Bar experience in Mumbai

Venue: - Gamley’s, Phoenix Mills (Lower Parel)
Occasion: - Manchester United vs. Chelsea (EPL)
The experience of watching a football match at a sports bar far outweighs the experience of watching the same sporting spectacle at home.
The atmosphere in a sports bar is electrifying and watching the action as it unfolds on the big screen surrounded by fellow lovers of the game is just not the same as watching the game all by yourself in the comfort of your living room.
Well my first experience of watching a football match in India with friends at a sports bar, sadly fell a bit below expectations.
One of the reasons could be that I was comparing the experience at “Bowling Co” Phoenix Mills to the experiences I have had at “Heckles & Jeckles” in Manila.
Let’s dissect my experience piece by piece in order to fill up the puzzle.
First the good stuff…
The décor of the place was good and fitted the image of a sports bar quite well.
The cover charge for the game was Rs 700 per head (i.e. min expenditure of Rs. 700 per person was mandatory) which was quite acceptable given that the match being screened was between Manchester United & Chelsea (End of the season top 2 clash).
The menu was had enough varieties for both veggies and non veggies to keep the stomach happy.
The bar also provided with free tit bits during the entire duration of the match. Hence we had something to nib into all through the match.
The bad stuff…
The most depressing part of the place was the lack of understanding & homework on the part of the bar owners. They started showing the match just a few seconds before kick off. Hence the pre match reports and team news was missed in the process. By doing this the owners missed a trick since by getting the patrons involved early in to the game by broadcasting the pre match show would not only have increased the consumption of beer and food but also made the patrons more comfortable & involved. Since they started showing the game just before kick off, the anxiety and irritation was very much visible amongst the sports enthusiast who had come to watch the football match. I guess the saving grace for the owners was that the IPL match between CSK & RR was already showing on the numerous small screens.
Next, the picture quality and the sound quality of the big screening had much to be desired. I spent watching most of the match on the smaller LCD screen since it was much brighter and clearer.
The sitting was a bit to cramp to my liking but it is the case in most sports bar when you are watching a highly anticipated clash between table toppers.
The service was also not that great (May be I am influenced by the service provided by “Heckles & Jeckles” which is an all woman workforce compared to CO’s which had only male workforce). Well on a serious note the whole experience could have been better if the crew at the place was well informed. For e.g. During a pivotal moment of the match when there was a penalty appeal by Park for Manchester United, the waiter comes right in front of me and starts pouring beer and in the process I missed the part on the big screen. He did get a firing and we asked him to keep the beer pitcher and go.
All in all the experience was good even though the team I was supporting suffered a disappointing loss. As a marketer I see a lot of potential and improvement in this aspect of sports entertainment.
The dearth of good sports bar in the city is a wonderful opportunity worth exploring. Given that India is on a growth spree both in terms of economical growth as well as population the prospects of having sports bar though a costly affair is one worth venturing into.
My rating for Gamley’s on a scale of 1 to 5 would be 2.5… The ambience and location scored good points but the service and the overall experience was missing something.