ST. LOUIS (KMOX)- KA-KAW is the law but Cha Ching is what local restaurants hear when fans flock to the Dome to watch the St. Louis Battlehawks play.
Last season, the Battlehawks averaged 35,000 fans attending their home contests at the Dome at America's Center, more than double any other spring team. Brice-Ian Rayford, the manager at Rooster, says crowds like that at the Dome meant big business.
"It's pretty crazy, it's busy, there's tailgates,' says Rayford. "We see a lot of business from it."
Joshua Powlishta co-owns BLT's Breakfast Lunch and Tacos just a block from the dome. He had a blast on gamedays last year.
"Gameday is tons of fun down here actually," Powlishta says "tailgating is unbelievable, we have tons of people coming in here for brunch and just for some pregaming drinks as well."
The manager at El Burro Loco Yoselyn Green says the crowds arrive hours before kickoff.
"They're busy two hours prior to the game, and then they're busy right after the game as well." said Green. "We get super slammed."
Rayford says the gameday crowds would form lines outside Rooster.
"BattleHawks is an early crowd. So if it's a morning game they'll be lined up outside the door. They're a pretty fun crowd, a pretty intense crowd."
Powlishta says BLT's location has him excited about the BattleHawks return for another season.
"We're at the shadow of the dome where they play. We really do see a lit of that business and we're happy to have some life downtown."
As for lessons learned last year that will help them handle the 2024 season? Both Powlishta and Green agree on what they've learned.
Powlishta says they "learned to have more staffing, to make sure we have that support so that we can take care of our customers to the best of our abilities."
"Be well staffed. Be well prepared for the people that are coming in," is what Green says they learned.
Powlishta adds BattleHawks gamedays are far better for business than the Dome's former football occupant.
"After that first game we saw that this is not a joke, at all, this is for real. I think in a lot of ways better than when that team who should not be named used to play [at the dome]."
The BattleHawks could see an even larger draw in 2024, with the team opening up the 400 level for the entire season.