Kilroy’s Sports Bar ranked in ‘Top 100’ nightclubs

One of America’s top party schools might be living up to its name.

Kilroy’s Sports Bar, popularly known as Sports, was ranked No. 36 of the “Top 100” nightclubs in the nation by Nightclub & Bar Magazine, set to be published in March.

The rankings are based on volume purchased at the bar, with an arbitrary dollar amount associated with each type of drink, said co-owner Maggie Prall. This makes it possible for bars where drinks cost less, such as Sports – as compared to bars in New York, for example – to make the list.

If it was based on gross sales, chances are that Sports would not be as highly ranked.

Sports, located at 319 N. Walnut Street, has been in business for 18 years and is locally-owned.

Junior Keenan Probst tried to explain the Sports experience as he enjoyed the scene during Tuesday’s Mardi Gras celebration.

“Everything that you want in a bar is here,” Probst said with drink in hand. “There are multiple bars and multiple areas. If you want to dance, there’s dancing upstairs. You can chill downstairs. There are games. Honestly, anything you really want in a bar is here.”

Bartender Tony Willemin said part of Sports’ appeal is its party-like atmosphere.
“It just has the most opportunity,” Willemin said. “I think it’s just the most diverse place in town ... Working here is a blast.”

Sports is one of the top purchasers of several types of liquor across the state of Indiana, including Patron, Smirnoff, Grey Goose, Jager and Jim Beam, as well as the energy drink Red Bull, Prall said. She said Sports bought and sold 5,000 cases of Red Bull in the last fiscal year.

“There’s only 50 states, and we’re the No. 1 in Indiana,” Prall said. “That puts us up there.”

Prall co-owns the bar with her sister Liza Prall, who said that Sports strives to be diverse, which is part of its appeal.

“We’ve worked really hard to create different atmospheres in different parts of the building,” Liza Prall said. “We’ve taken a lot of time to welcome all different kinds of people. It’s a very diverse bar, and that’s on purpose.”

But creating such a varied atmosphere is not without its challenges, Liza Prall said.

“It was kind of hard to do at first,” she said. “But, being as big as we are, we need every last person that we can possibly get to want to come. We worked really hard to make everybody feel welcome – every race and every age and everything. We can attract everybody and entertain everybody. We appeal to everybody.”

Sports’ capacity is about 850, making it one of the biggest bars in the Midwest. However, that’s not the real reason it is so profitable, Maggie Prall said.

“The difference between Sports and most of the college bars that you would see is that we sell 70 percent spirits to 30 percent beer, while most college bars sell 30 percent spirits to 70 percent beer,” she said.

Maggie and Liza Prall based their family-run business’ style off the melting pot that is Bloomington, Liza Prall said.

“We’re all from Bloomington, and, obviously, Bloomington focuses on diversity,” Liza Prall said. “We’ve grown up in that same atmosphere and tried to recreate it in a bar. Everybody just finds a spot and feels welcome. Every type of person is represented every day of the week.”

To both sisters, the recognition means a lot more than most awards they have received before.

“We get a lot of awards and things that are kind of private, but this is public,” Maggie Prall said. “People that never realized what we do are kind of seeing it now.”