Sports is Bloomington’s ‘melting pot’

With the diversity of bars in Bloomington, diversity of clientele is what makes Kilroy’s Sports Bar a local favorite.

“Sports is like the melting pot of the bar scene,” said Liza Prall, the manager at Kilroy’s Sports Bar, known best as just “Sports.” “We strive to make everyone feel welcome by offering a variety of things.”

Liza Prall has been a manager at Sports, 319 N. Walnut St., for eight years, and her sister Maggie Prall has served as the other manager for 12 years. She said the bar is accepting of all races, sexualities, ethnicities and genders, and all people should feel comfortable having a drink at Sports.

In addition to cultivating an atmosphere of inclusion, the sisters’ goal is to offer a variety of entertainment, such as live music on Wednesdays and DJs both upstairs and downstairs Wednesday through Saturday. Sports has a total of five bars in its establishment, along with outside and rooftop patios, pool tables, live DJs and an upstairs club scene. Sports also serves lunch and dinner and has projector screens for sports nights. The patio is a great addition when the weather’s nice and there is a big renovation scheduled to be done just in time for Little 500 this spring, Liza Prall said.

“Wednesday nights at Sports are my favorite because it’s always a very lively and diverse crowd,” said senior Brittany Goudie. “It gets monotonous in Bloomington sometimes because all of the nightlife is very similar.”

She goes to Sports because the bar allows her to experience several different types of atmospheres in one night.

Kilroy’s Sports Bar continues to stay popular because of its up-to-date changes, bartender Tabitha Tachik said.

Two years ago, Sports added a new side bar. Since the expansion, there has been more room to socialize, dance and eat, and it’s much easier to get a drink, Tachik said. Goudie said she never feels cramped at Sports because it’s “big enough you have room to move, but it’s small enough you run into people you know.”

“If you can’t get a drink within five minutes, there is a problem,” Tachik said.

Tachik began working part-time as a shot girl three years ago and quickly worked her way up to bartender. She said people generally start by working the door or as a server before they move up.

Each bar has a different feel because each one has its own kind of people and music, Tachik said. The low-key drinkers stay downstairs where the patio and pool tables are. If patrons want a more energetic night, they can go upstairs to find the dance floor and a live DJ spinning.

Sports bar back and senior Lee Kinne said besides getting to work with laid-back customers and coworkers, Sports is great for him because the pay is good. Kinne has only been working at Sports for the past seven months but said he enjoys his job, which is making sure the bartenders have what they need throughout the night.

It gets especially busy on the weekends, and Kinne’s theory is if patrons have time partying here, they might want to think about joining the “Sports” team.

“You know it’s a good night when we walk away soaking in a lot of money,” Kinne said. “By soaking, I mean because we do a lot of dishes.”