A stunning Week 1 NFL upset proved extremely costly for a Washington, D.C. sports bar.
Dirty Water, a local hangout for Patriots and Eagles fans, found itself on the hook for a hefty tab after the New England Patriots pulled off a shocking 16-10 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
Heading into the game, the Patriots were 7.5-point underdogs on the road in head coach Jerod Mayo’s first regular season outing.
Behind a stout defense and 120 rushing yards plus a touchdown from Rhamondre Stevenson, the Pats defied expectations, leaving Cincinnati with a hard-fought win.
Dirty Water had been running a promotion promising to cover all bar tabs if the Patriots won. As of 7:30pm on Sunday, the bar had already comped $6,000 in drinks, with even more to come.
“It was the best game the Patriots have played in the last several years, I would say, offensively for sure,” Rachel Hynes, Dirty Water’s general manager, told the Boston Globe.
“There were a couple plays towards the middle of the fourth quarter where I looked at the owner and said, ‘We better start comping.'”
The bar canceled individual tabs of up to $250.
Of course, the headline of this story is a little misleading. My apologies for that. The bar wasn’t put out of business, but they might want to rethink their strategy. After all, on any given Sunday…
Despite the financial hit, Hynes saw it as a win in the long run, noting the positive energy from the fans and the overall buzz and attention the promotion generated for the bar.
“It’s hard to say if people were really excited about the win or also because they knew the drinks [were] free,” Hynes remarked.
Undeterred by the payout, Dirty Water is doubling down with a similar offer for the Patriots’ Week 2 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.
However, this time there’s a catch: only $30 open bar tabs will be covered if New England pulls off the upset.
What are your thoughts on the promotion?
More importantly, how shocked were you that the Patriots actually beat the Bengals on Sunday? … What’s your realistic expectations for them going forward???