KSHB 41 reporter Grant Stephens covers downtown Kansas City, Missouri. He also focuses on stories of consumer interest. Share your story idea with Grant.
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The Bauer in Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District turned its historic event space into a World Cup watch party hub, and the response has owners thinking about what comes next.
The venue had open availability — no weddings on the books — when the World Cup arrived, so ownership decided to take a chance and create The Bauer Social Club.
"We didn't know what to expect. We'd been told many times that there was going to be giant crowds, and they weren't necessarily giant crowds, so we thought that we would just go for it anyway," said owner Jeff Owens.
So far, the gamble has paid off. Brookside couple Austin and Julia O'Byrne were among those who showed up.
"We toured it as the wedding venue ... eight years ago," Julia O'Byrne said. "... We thought it was family-friendly, and we have a baby with us, so [we] wanted to come check it out."
Part of the success came down to careful staffing decisions.
"Our goal was just to throttle up and down our staff so that we didn't spend too much money where we didn't need to. That was our biggest learning curve," Owens said. "Luckily, it's working out to where at least we should be even when it's all over."
One early challenge — getting locals through the door — has also started to turn around.
"There's more local people coming back," Owens said. "It's taken us a couple of weeks to convince everybody that it was easy to come."
The O'Byrnes said they would return even after the World Cup wraps up.
"I think just even like general sports games, like it'd be fun to hang out, have a spot like this," Austin O'Byrne said.
Owens said the venue is already planning for exactly that.
"We are going to continue doing it. We're going to try to figure out Chiefs games, maybe some Royals games," he said. "We're going to try to figure out the games that ... people would want to watch."
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