The Detroit Pistons opened the 2021-2022 NBA season at home Wednesday with a predictably dispiriting loss to their Central Division rival, the Chicago Bulls. Some 750 miles to the southwest, the Memphis Grizzlies opened their season with a nice 132-121 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
In Michigan, Pistons fans cried in their beers at the newly opened PointsBet Sports Bar at Little Caesars Arena, while at the FedExForum, where Ja Morant heard chants of “MVP,” Grizzlies fans hoisted tumblers and pints in a far more jovial manner at the brand new WynnBET Sports Bar. It’s a 3,984-square-foot, sidewalk-accessible establishment where all-time Grizzlies great Zach Randolph cut the ribbon at a soft opening Tuesday night.
yo this is wild @JaMorant 🥷 https://t.co/TnTn9G15Bl
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) October 21, 2021
Sportsbook bar fever is sweeping across American sporting venues quicker than Morant’s first step. (OK, maybe not that quick, but you catch the drift.)
In addition to the Detroit and Memphis ventures, an incomplete list of bars, lounges, VIP suites, and tailgate tents located at U.S. stadiums and arenas would include the PlayUp Sports Lounge at Prudential Center in New Jersey; Betfred’s setups at Coors Field, Mile High, and a minor-league ballpark in Iowa; FanDuel’s spread at Phoenix’s Footprint Center; and WynnBET’s onsite team-ups with the New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts, and Detroit Lions and Pistons.
With Tennessee sports betting being an all-mobile affair, WynnBET’s Memphis entry will actually resemble a sports bar more than a sportsbook with a bar. To be sure, there will be ambassadors on hand to sign bettors up on the WynnBET app and the bar’s 33 TVs will have frequent visual reminders about signing up, but other than that, the venue will fill something of a void in a downtown core where drinking establishments are concentrated on one street (that’d be Beale).
“People have their favorite places to go watch a game, but Memphis was lacking a full sports bar at this scale in the core of the city,” Grizzlies President Jason Wexler told The Daily Memphian.
Elvis parfait and a boosted parlay
On Grizzlies game days and during other arena events, the WynnBET bar will serve liquor, but not food. But on days when it’s open and there are no arena events — for example, Saturdays and Sundays during football season — the bar will serve Southern fried cheese tots, fried chicken sandwiches, and a sweet ode to Elvis Presley called “The Big E Parfait,” the Memphian reports.
WynnBET announced its multi-year partnership with the Grizzlies in May, which also made WynnBET the presenting sponsor of the Chris Vernon Show and the official advertising partner of the Grind City Media Podcast Network. In addition, WynnBET is the presenting sponsor of the Buzzer Beater Picks in-app game, which invites Grizzlies fans to make their own predictions of various outcomes during each game.
To celebrate the opening of the sports bar and the start of the NBA season, WynnBET offered a boosted parlay to Tennessee players for the Griz-Cavs game, increasing the odds from +479 to +622. The boosted parlay included the Grizzlies’ point spread (-8), Morant’s point total (over 25.5), and the race to 20 points in favor of the Grizzlies.
On Wednesday, WynnBET confirmed that 200 bettors wound up cashing that parlay, which must have made the mood in Memphis’ newly christened sportsbook bar all the more jovial.
Images courtesy of WynnBET
