Today, Thursday March 16, marked the kickoff for the NCAA March Madness tournament. Neither of Texas Tech’s basketball teams made it into the tournament but that hasn’t stopped locals from going out to celebrate the event.
“This is the start of March Madness so it will probably be madness,” Caitlin Mills a bartender at Walk-on’s Bistreaux & Bar said.
Mills said they have plenty of TV’s and she plans on seeing several people enjoy a “longer lunch hour” to sit and watch the games and that it makes for a fun atmosphere at work.
“When there is a game and stuff like this it doesn’t even feel like work, you’re just having a great time. There are 70 screens so you can literally see any game you wanna see from multiple angles. Even a TV in each bathroom, so if you have to take a bathroom break you don’t have to miss any of the action,” Mills said.
Other bars in Lubbock are also anticipating high crowds during the tournament. Troy Davidson, the Owner and General Manager of Back 40 Grill said this is his restaurant’s third time working through March Madness.
“Tonight we will be staffed like it’s a Friday night. Tomorrow we will be staffed like a Tech football Saturday. This is our third round of March Madness since we’ve been open. History has shown that we are looking at a 30 to 40 percent sales increase,” Davidson said.
Both bars are expecting high volume throughout the weekend, especially with St. Patrick’s Day. You can catch all the action of March Madness on CBS.
