Why Chicago Has the Best Sport-Themed Restaurants

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Tyler Dahl, a writer at mitchellchannondesign.com.

It’s no secret that sports are huge in cities.  Sports are so intertwined in city culture that they can define people in new ways.  They help define music and art in an area, they bring people together, and they also are a huge rallying point for many city projects and volunteer experiences.  Sports entertain us, distract us, include us, make us laugh, and also make us cry.  And what’s at the heart of sports?  Food.  

It’s hard to imagine Sunday football without beer and chips, Saturday without tailgates and BBQs, Friday nights without a night out at the bar with some onion rings and booze while your team is on.  How often have you gone to a sporting event where there isn’t a concessions stand?  Food completes sports, just as sports complete city culture, and realistically, America.  In this post, I want to give you some non-stereotypical, fresh insights into some of my favorite sports bars/restaurants in my beloved Chicago.  Without further adieu, here are the reasons why Chicago has the best sports bars.

1. Diverse and Rich Tradition of Chicago Sports

Before I get started into the sports restaurants and bars, I need to get into the sports culture in Chicago.  Failing to do so would just make Chicago have regular sports bars, that aren’t in anyway unique to Chicago.  To illustrate this, I want to use two examples.  So first, in America, you have 13 major urban areas that feature teams from all major sports in the U.S. ie) Detroit has an MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL team.  

Out of the 13 metropolitan areas, only 4 of the areas have all of their teams playing in one city.  To describe this, you have Boston which features the Celtics, Red Sox, and so on.  It also features the Patriots but the Patriots are outside of Boston at Foxboro which isn’t in Boston itself.  Chicago is one of these 4 metropolitan areas.  It has a very tight-knit sports community that is all within city limits.  

In addition to this and as my second point, out of those 13 metropolitan areas I mentioned earlier, only 4 of the areas have two baseball teams.  Out of these 4 areas, only Chicago has had two teams since 1901 when the American League in baseball was established ie) New York had two teams in 1901 but the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA in 1957.  What this shows is that Chicago teams (in this case the baseball teams) were formed early and they stuck around for good.  So to summarize my second point, all of Chicago’s teams are long-standing traditions.  Chicago is the only city that basically has had all of its major teams as steady foundations of their respective sport that have spanned across generations.  An example of this is that the Chicago Blackhawks were one of the 6 original teams to start out the NHL, and the Chicago Bears were one of 13 teams that originally formed the NFL.

What do these two things show?  These two things epitomize Chicago as a long-standing, tradition-based sports metropolis that is extremely close-knit.  All of the major sports are played in Chicago limits, and anyone that is a native of Chicago has trans-generational roots to these teams.  What this means is that fans in Chicago are very connected to their teams.  They have family like connections with their teams.  They are very loyal and fiery.  On a given weekend, more often than not, there is at least one team playing in the city limits.  This creates a great amount of buzz and energy in the city that is infectious.

2. General Culture of the Sports Restaurant and Bar

The aforementioned tradition and continuity of sports within the city dominates its restaurants and bars.  Any restaurant or bar that is associated with sports will exhibit this culture to an extreme degree.  In addition to finding the game on a screen, you will find an energetic, proud, and loyal kind of a vibe with plenty of arguing, little tolerance for losing Chicago teams, and an on-going rivalry between the Sox and Cubs.

3. Sub-cultures Within a General Culture

So you have the general culture of sports bars and restaurants throughout Chicago.  This is all fine and dandy but what really makes Chicago eateries stand out is an intense pride in a diverse culture.  Chicago is an extremely diverse city.  You have Southside Chinatown, Little Italy on Taylor Street, and Greektown on Halsted Street to mention a few subcultures.  With 2.7 million people in the city, Chicago needs to cater to all different types of people from many different backgrounds.  Due to this, the sports bars and restaurants need to have a unique “feel” to them or they will die out.  Adapt or die, such is business.  This competition has driven some very unique bars and eateries where people congregate and socialize based on the culture of the bar or restaurant.  

4. The Feel of the Sports Bar/Restaurant

I can’t go into the feel of every sports bars or restaurant in Chicago.  What I can do, is tell you that the owners of these facilities know what they are doing.  It comes as no surprise to anyone that atmosphere influences your mood.  If this wasn’t the case, then interior designers wouldn’t make a living.  The owners of these facilities know this and they often hire professionals who studied for years to get atmospheres “just right”.  Here are some examples of some great “feels” of Chicago bars and restaurants.

1. Michael Jordan Steakhouse Chicago: Has a modern chic feel and with private reservations and superior eats, it demands as much excellence of itself as the True King of Basketball, the Airness himself.
2. The Anthem: A bar that, like its name suggests, is everything America.  With a huge American flag as you enter and a giant projector screen for the local Chicago game, this place is boisterous and prideful of its teams.
3. Streeter’s Tavern: A place for the blue-collar workforce of Chicago to get rowdy with cheap beer and classic Momma-made food.
4. Public House: a Friendly social bar that prides itself in many beers, and even has taps on the wall.
5. Crew Bar and Grill: A straight-friendly gay bar with a more laid-back environment for those that have that infectious Chicago spirit but aren’t know-it-alls in the sports world.
6. The Globe Pub: An international sports bar for the soccer and rugby lovers of the world.

Conclusion

In summary, whatever sports bar/restaurant you go to in Chicago will give you a huge blast of culture.  It will give you tradition, energy, and community with diversity which is a very rare combination.  The bars and grills here are time-tested and have unique feels with professional level atmospheres that will keep you engaged with your respective community and will keep you coming back for more.  And who knows, you might find some family friends along the way unless they’re Sox fans.  

Thinking about moving?

Be sure to check out our apartments for rent in Chicago.