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Some downtown bars made more money in March than before pandemic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Cheering fans from across the country can still be found frequenting Indianapolis bars.

The District Tap’s general manager, Jeff Huron, said the bar made more money during the month of March than it did before the pandemic.

He said business tripled on a weekly basis.

Now the bar, along with other downtown businesses, are preparing for a loss in revenue after the NCAA tournament wraps up on Monday.

Huron said after the teams and their fans pack up and leave town, he is counting on his local customers to help fill the void.

“We’ll see a dip, you know it’s not gonna be an event anymore. But we’ve cleaned it up a little bit, it’s safer, a lot of people out and about. I think it’s a really good time to come back downtown and show people downtown Indy is a safe and fun place to be,” said Huron.

Fans from other cities sure seemed to think so, Huron said lines spilled out onto the streets for several weeks in a row.

“We were on a good hour, hour and a half wait. I hate to make our guests wait but with limited capacity, once those seats fill up, people wanna stay and watch the game,” said Huron.

Huron said he believes visitors enjoyed more than just the games, and hopes it won’t be too long before another big event comes to the city.

“I hope we were a good example for the rest of the country in the rest of the sporting world that you can do these big events, you can open up. You can have guests in the stands and still be safe and I think we’ve done that,” said Huron.

Staff from other downtown businesses were unable to meet with News 8 because they were so busy on Sunday. However, several told us over the phone they were also concerned about what will happen when the tournament ends.