Even with U.S. and Mexico losses, Valley bars win big during the World Cup

When Sana Sana Cervecería’s team decided to air World Cup games, they made some small upgrades, like adding a few more TVs to their downtown taproom. Three weeks later, they had multiple 20-foot TV screens erected outside the perimeter of a full-fledged block party to watch Mexico face off against England.

On Sunday, the one-year-old brewery’s watch party attracted about 1,200 soccer fans wearing green and carrying Mexican flags. Kids kicked around a soccer ball and adults sipped Mexican lagers in the heat. They celebrated, jovially tossing people in the air, and held each other when it became clear that this would be Mexico’s last stand in the tournament. 

Though Mexico’s run at the World Cup ended Sunday night in a 3-2 loss to England, the spirited watch parties hosted around the Valley took on a life of their own. 

Crowds flocked to bars and restaurants in all corners of the Valley to cheer on El Tri, the nickname for the Mexican national team. Those gathering spaces did more than turn up the volume, offering game-day specials, bringing in live musicians and DJs or partnering with local food trucks. The demand also meant bars had to beef up on security to stop people from sneaking into packed watch parties, stock up on beer and, in Sana Sana’s case, work with the city to close off Fourth Street. 

Sana Sana’s co-owner Johnny De Luna calls the end of Mexico’s run in the cup “bittersweet” — it was taxing and stressful to pull off party after party with more and more fans, “but I already miss it,” he says.

“It feels like we’ve been going 125% every day,” he says. “It’s been crazy.”

Despite some challenges and the subsequent exits of the Canadian and American teams, the global soccer tournament playing out in stadiums across North America has been a boon for Valley bars. Those we spoke with shared that their revenues are up from 25% to 250%.

The timing couldn’t have been better. The World Cup kicked off on June 11 in the midst of the Valley’s slow season. Summer can make or break restaurants and bars working to hold on until snowbirds and tourists return in the winter. 

It’s especially meaningful to a new spot like Revolución Tacos + Cantina. The Roosevelt Row bar and restaurant opened in September. At the start of June, owner Jesus Soto saw customers tapering off. Then, fans showed up for the opening World Cup game between Mexico and South Africa.

“That first Mexico game just honestly saved us for the summer,” Soto says. “This is going to get us through the summer.”

‘Like having a Super Bowl during the summer’

Sana Sana wasn’t alone in drawing El Tri fans to watch the soccer tournament matches together.

The Hot Chick, a 1970s-inspired bar and restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale, draws people for sports and reality TV watch parties alike. To entice soccer fans, The Hot Chick rolled out drink specials and hosted watch parties for the U.S. and Mexico matches. 

The U.S. watch parties, including one co-hosted with the pro men’s team Phoenix Rising, attracted crowds from the start. For the Mexico games, The Hot Chick’s watch parties were more of a slow burn, starting with a few dozen people before they really took off. During Mexico’s knockout games, The Hot Chick was at capacity, which is about 450 people, says general manager Ty Goossen. 

“It did take on a life of its own,” he says, “and it just continued to grow and grow.”

Goossen credits two factors for the steady growth. The Hot Chick was one of the few bars on the east side of town airing the game in Spanish. They also posted videos of the packed, celebratory atmosphere on social media, which attracted more fans. The World Cup played a huge part in making this The Hot Chick’s biggest Fourth of July weekend since opening in 2019. 

The restaurant stays steady during the summer, Goossen says, thanks to watch parties for the reality dating game show, “Love Island USA.” Yet, he estimates the restaurant is up about 25 to 30% compared to last summer.

“It feels like a second season,” he says. “It’s almost like having a Super Bowl during the summer.”

Running low on beer and room

Spots like The Hot Chick attract sports fans year-round. At places like Sana Sana and Revolución, the demand came as a welcome surprise. Soto says Revolución ran out of beer during Mexico’s second World Cup game, leading them to double and then triple orders to meet demand.

At Sana Sana, which has a small indoor taproom, space has been a challenge. Heartened by fans showing up and squeezing shoulder to shoulder, singing along to nostalgic ranchera songs, Sana Sana’s team worked to make room for more fans at the preceding matches. 

“The appreciation that people have to be here and amongst people that are like them and be able to share that culture and that camaraderie and that community has been one of the most beautiful things I have ever been a part of,” De Luna told us earlier this month.

That community spirit also brought a flood of business. The brewery’s revenues are up 250% compared to last June, but that isn’t all profit for the fledgling brewer. To pull off a large-scale block party, which Sana Sana hosted for both of Mexico’s knockout-round games, they had to get approval from the city, contract with an AV company to set up outdoor TVs and hire security and extra bartenders. 

De Luna estimates that the costs for barricades, portable toilet rentals, security and those big televisions alone total $25,000 for the last party. The owners also doubled their bartending staff to keep up with the demand at pour stations inside and out. Volunteers helped the team manage lines, refill water stations and pick up trash.

“These events are extremely expensive for us,” De Luna says. “We were focused on experience.”

As more people showed up, Sana Sana had to contend not only with crowds but also with their own beer stockpiles. 

Unlike traditional bars, the microbrewery creates its own drinks. Sana Sana specializes in Mexican-style lagers. A few months ago, as the team planned for the summer, they intended to ramp up sales to bottle shops, restaurants and other bars around town. Their brewhouse crew made more beer in anticipation, but instead of selling it to other spots, Sana Sana had to keep it for their taps. 

They ran out of the seltzer base that bartenders add flavor to, such as cucumber-lime, but were able to buy some from a fellow brewer. Fearful of running out of beer, they purchased kegs of Mexican lager from another local brewery, but didn’t have to tap them. 

Now that Mexico is out of the tournament, the team at Sana Sana is catching their breath. They plan to use the rest of the summer to focus on brewing more beer. The World Cup crowds made one thing clear to Sana Sana’s owners: They’d outgrown their brewhouse. 

“We just need to grow,” De Luna says. “We knew that it was something that we eventually had to do. What the World Cup has done is just pushed everything up that much more.”

The demand they saw during the tournament can help the owners make their case to banks to fund that expansion, he adds.

Even with the exit of all three North American teams from the World Cup, the party isn’t over at any of these spots. At The Hot Chick, they have also attracted fans of Argentina and Colombia. All of these bars will continue to air World Cup games until the finale on July 19. 

“It’s really made its mark,” Gosseen says of this year’s tournament. “People are going to remember this.”