How Tom’s Watch Bar is Turning Sports into Full-Scale Entertainment

Tom’s Watch Bar reflects a major change in who watches sports and how they use it for entertainment, says cofounder Tom Ryan. Customers are no longer seeking what he calls the older definition of sports bars—a lot of pennants, mostly beer, and a lot of fried food.

Ryan noticed in the 2010s that sports viewership became evenly split between men and women. And people began using sports for entertainment in the same way previous generations used movies. Fans—college alumni, couples, friends, or other groups—showed a desire to get together and be like-minded with others.

Tom’s Watch Bar, founded about a decade ago, was designed to meet this increasingly popular occasion by being the next best thing to sitting inside the arena or stadium. Venues are wallpapered with TV screens showing “all of the sports, all of the time,” and Ryan says customers are set up so that “every seat is the best seat in the house.” Customers are greeted with 100-plus screens and have the option of more than 50 beers and 100 cocktails.

Similar to a movie theater, Tom’s Watch Bar locations release a schedule beforehand of what sporting events it will show. That’s combined with an elevated menu. The chain offers everything a “hockey jock” would enjoy, Ryan says, like your typical tacos, burgers, nachos, and chicken wings, but it also serves an Ahi Tuna Tower, Prime Rib French Dip, Pickle-Brined Crispy Chicken, and House-Made Cornbread Pancakes with Nashville Hot Chicken Tenders.

“When you put all that together, it’s not just a place to go watch your team on TV. It’s a place to go get entertained, to be entertained while you’re doing it,” Ryan says.

Several of the 15 locations are adjacent to one of the market’s biggest sports venues. For instance, the location in Denver is beside Coors Field, home of MLB’s Colorado Rockies. The San Diego unit is close to Petco Park, home of MLB’s San Diego Padres, and the recently opened Seattle outlet is near Climate Pledge Arena, which houses the NHL’s Seattle Kraken.

The closeness to sports facilities feeds into the company’s hallmark watch parties, which are typically sponsored by either the local professional teams or a major vendor. The main game takes over a majority of the screens, and the venue brings in a DJ—which turns up the music and energy during every commercial break.

Tom’s Watch Bar estimates that it served 2.5 million sports fans last year and hosted more than 600 watch parties.

“The core concept is just really strong and modern and I think reflects what that next generational sports fan is really looking for in entertainment,” Ryan says. “But then on the other side of that, the watch parties make key events really, really special and highly differentiated than any place else where you can go and watch sports … It really hangs together really, really well for a myriad of different sports. I mean, whether you’re there to watch the College Football Playoff game or you’re there to watch the NFL playoffs, there for March Madness, you’re there for a great game between the Rockies and the Dodgers, it doesn’t matter.”

The chain is led by co-CEOs Brooks Schaden and Shannon McNiel, who previously served as CFO and COO. Schaden brings experience from Merrill Lynch, ABN-AMRO, and Smashburger, while McNiel has worked with Texas Roadhouse, Bubbas 33, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, and Darden.

“There’s an explicit trust there that we just trust one another,” McNiel says. “So I think all those things together between balance, alignment, and trust—they just work together. I think it’s a positive move for our organization.”

In 2024, revenue at Tom’s Watch Bar increased more than 25 percent and profitability grew by roughly 33 percent. The company also experienced positive same-store sales backed by traffic growth. Alcohol sales lifted 34 percent, led by premium tequila offerings, and private events increased more than 50 percent.

The brand boasts a $7 million AUV and unit margins over 26 percent, aided by a 50-plus percent alcohol mix.

Tom’s Watch Bar believes it has a total addressable market of around 700 locations worldwide, divided among different trade areas (near stadiums/arenas, tourist hubs, convention centers, casinos, entertainment districts, large hotels, and internationally).

“We love being close to sports stadiums, but not all sports stadiums are great outside of just the game days. So it’s a pretty selective decision. We need nighttime traffic because we’re doing most of our business in the evening, obviously, and we pay attention to what type of sports fans there are. And by that I mean I always use the example of like Miami versus Minneapolis,” Schaden says. “Miami is a great market—lots of population, lots of money, good restaurant market, but it may not be the most consistent sports fan because it is very transient versus you go to Minneapolis and you sit in a location, you’ll see father, son, and grandson all there together. They came to town before the Vikings game. They went to the game and then they come back. It’s a passionate sports fan base and there’s a lot of other markets like that.”

The macroeconomic environment remains difficult, but Tom’s Watch Bar has some tailwinds to work with. Sports betting is now legal in more than 40 states, more people are participating in fantasy sports leagues, college and professional leagues are increasing the number of games, and there’s a growing interest among both women and men’s sports.

One of the biggest examples is the skyrocketing popularity of the WNBA, fueled by Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark. When she played in Minnesota and Connecticut, sales doubled the previous year.

“The energy was unbelievable,” McNiel says. “The energy she brought to the whole sport was incredible. We were working with the ICR [PR firm] guys and finding different stats like do people eat different? Do they drink different? The reality is our alcohol mix, everything was the same. It’s the same kind of fan base. It’s just a different sport to go watch.”

After opening in Orlando and Indianapolis in 2024, Tom’s Watch Bar hopes to open eight locations this year.