State basketball is nothing but net for Lincoln businesses

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Nebraska girls state basketball tournament is providing a boost to the Lincoln economy.

Businesses in the Haymarket said they love events like this because they draw people not just in Lincoln, but from across the state.

The owner of Gate 25 Bar and Restaurant said anything hosted at Pinnacle Bank Arena is a “welcome treat” for his business, especially outside of football season.

“Being next to the arena, it’s very event-driven in general,” Brandon Akert said. “So football season is great starting in the fall. Football season rolls right into basketball season. Then it goes into March, and then we have the spring game, so all these events all together are pretty good.”

The Best of Big Red Shop said about 70% of its revenue comes in during football season, so out-of-season events are a great boost.

General manager Joey Rupp said even if it’s not a Husker event, the store sees an uptick in traffic.

“We do see a lot more people that come in from out of town than maybe local people during state basketball,” she said. “They’re walking by, maybe going to eat after a game, they stop in to see what we have. Every year, I’ve got funny stories to tell about people from different towns that sit and talk about where they’re from, how far they had to drive.”

Akert said he loves seeing schools make it a tradition to stop at Gate 25 between games.

“Whoever plants their flag at the beginning of the week, we all of a sudden become big fans of them because the more they keep winning, the more they keep coming back,” he said.

And that repeat business sometimes continues for years.

“We’ve been here for 10 years, so we do see a lot of the same schools,” he said.

Akert said cold weather like Wednesday’s can limit the number of people who come, but he expects it to ramp up into this weekend.