Buffalo, NY (WBEN) - Do you like Bills games to kick off at 1pm or 8pm? For some business owners, they face the same question each football season.
No matter the time of kickoff, Mark Ebeling opens up Danny's South early on game day Sunday. "We're opening our lot at 8am. It's actually insane. I can't believe that people come so early for games like that. They're long days those kind of games," says Ebeling, referring to the Bills' prime time game Sunday vs. Baltimore.
From a business perspective, Ebeling has no preference, but personally, he prefers early kickoffs. "When it's a later crowd, people just hang around and they don't get rides home, stuff like that. It's crazy. The eight o'clock game. It gets over at midnight. The Ubers don't show up, the taxis don't show up. It's hard for these people to get out of there. But I don't mind them all. They all make money," says Ebeling. He does say later kickoffs mean longer days where he's more tired come Monday.
Jay Manno of Soho and Frankie Primo's 39+ says prime time games almost always help, especially if they're away games. But which restaurant has more success? He says that depends. "We might lose a little bit Sunday night, because nobody's going to a 7pm dinner at Frankie Primo's, but we'll do better on Saturday night, Sunday day, because of the amount of people that are in town for the game to the action that's downtown," says Manno. Overall, he doesn't mind prime time games. "It's the price of being good, and I think good over bad all day long," adds Manno.
The Bills have four more prime time games this season.