LINCOLN SQUARE — Some football fans found a silver lining in the Bears’ 3-point loss Sunday to the Denver Broncos: free beer.
Fans who watched the game at Claddagh Ring Pub, 2306 W. Foster Ave., were treated to $5,000 in drinks plus free pizza at halftime, thanks to a promotion by owner Kris Jackson.
Jackson had heard about a Milwaukee bar’s offer to pick up customers’ tabs this season for any game the New York Jets lose with starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, the former Green Bay Packer.
“When that other bar ran their promotion, the Jets came back and won in overtime. So all the customers over there had to pay for their drinks,” Jackson said.
Jackson took the idea and added a twist: He told customers he would “guarantee” the Bears would win Sunday or they’d drink for free. The Bears had lost 13 straight games coming into Sunday’s game.
After posting about it on social media before the game began, Jackson had a line outside the bar, he said.
The Bears lost 28-31, and Jackson shelled out a few grand. Still, he considered the evening a win thanks to the exposure his bar received, he said.
“The Bears are in such a bad losing streak. A lot of people kind of gave up and aren’t willing to waste their Sundays in a bar watching them,” Jackson said. “I thought it was good idea to create a promotion to get customers to come back and watch the games.”
The prior Sunday, when the Bears got trounced by the Kansas City Chiefs, Jackson saw disheartened fans get up and leave long before the game was over.
“You end up losing out on business if customers don’t come in and stick around to watch the whole game,” Jackson said.
The Bears are set to play again Thursday. Jackson said he’ll probably run some sort of promotion to “give people incentive to come out again.”
“But I don’t know if I’ll run that same exact special again, no,” he said.
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