DETROIT (WXYZ) — The Detroit Lions are having a significant impact on Detroit's economy.
David Zarkin, the general manager at Vivios, says there’s always an uptick in business during Lions games.
“You know what with the Lions, it doesn’t matter if it’s day or night, right now the fans are so excited about everything going on,” said Zarkin. “We have two shuttles taking people to the games, we usually fill both of our floors and transport about 300 people.”
7 News Detroit reporter Tiarra Braddock also went over to Parlay Detroit, a new sports bar on Washington Boulevard that’s been open for less than a month.
“If the Lions are playing, if Thursday Night Football is on, it could be probably 9 p.m. and everybody is making sure they’re here,” said Ameena Sheikh, co-owner of Parlay Detroit.
Sheikh says her team looks forward to hosting fans this Thursday and for many more games to come.
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“Detroit is the place the place to be, our sports teams are headlining that,” said Sheikh.
Claude Molinari from Visit Detroit says the Lions are giving the Detroit economy a huge boost — especially when they play on weekdays.
“Each home game is worth about $10 million in economic impact so this is almost an equivalent of a playoff game, so I predict this is between a $15- $17 million economic impact,” said Molinari.
Molinari adding that it’s not just the bars and restaurants that get a boost in business but Visit Detroit has also seen an increase in revenue for hotels.
“We have guests coming from all across the country, including the president of U.S. Travel Association who’s going to be a guest in the city, and here’s a great opportunity to showcase all the exciting things that are going on,” said Molinari.
