Waukesha Bars Open Early For Badgers-USC To Head Off Pacific Time Confusion

WAUKESHA — Three downtown bars confirmed this week they will open 90 minutes earlier than usual Saturday ahead of Wisconsin's night game against USC, a scheduling adjustment owners say has nothing to do with excitement and everything to do with time zones.

The game kicks off at 6 p.m. Pacific, which is 8 p.m. in Waukesha, a detail bar owners say a meaningful share of customers will not process correctly.

"Every year somebody reads '6 p.m.' on the schedule graphic, doesn't scroll down to the time zone note, and shows up at 5," said Carl Dufresne, 54, owner of the Red Arrow Lounge on Barstow Street. "We used to just let them sit there confused. Now we open the doors and let them sit there confused with a beer."

The math problem

Dufresne said the Red Arrow will unlock at 6:30 p.m., his second bartender will arrive at 7, and the actual commentary will not begin until roughly 7:58, once the broadcast finishes its sponsor package. He estimated 240 patrons by kickoff, a number he reached by counting bar stools, booth seats, and "the standing area by the jukebox that isn't really meant for standing."

At the Dugout Tavern on East Main Street, manager Phil Orsino is approaching the night from an equipment angle rather than a scheduling one. Orsino spent part of Thursday afternoon reviewing whether the bar needs a fourth television for the game or whether the four-screen setup wheeled in for last week's Brewers broadcast can simply be left in place.

"The stands are already up, the cables are already run, nobody's tripped on them yet," Orsino said. "My instinct is to leave well enough alone. My instinct has been wrong before." Orsino projected 267 patrons, the highest of the three bars, a figure he attributes to the Dugout's corner location and what he called "loyalty from the volleyball crowd that never really left."

"We don't advertise the early opening as an early opening. We advertise it as 'doors open at 6:30, game starts when it starts.' People respect the honesty."

— Carl Dufresne, owner, Red Arrow Lounge

Parking by way of the underpass

The third bar, Pilcher's on Grand Avenue, is addressing a different anticipated bottleneck: downtown parking once word gets out that three bars are opening early at once. Owner Renata Pilcher printed 150 half-sheet flyers this week directing drivers to approach from the south side using the Newhall Avenue underpass, which runs beneath the rail tracks between West Avenue and Grand Avenue and avoids the at-grade crossing entirely.

"If a freight train parks itself on that crossing at 7:45, that's it, that's the night," Pilcher said. "I've seen that thing sit there for 30 minutes before. I am not letting a train decide whether my regulars see the opening kickoff." Pilcher said she has not accounted for drivers who ignore the flyer, miss the underpass turn on the one-way grid, and end up circling Broadway anyway, which she described as "a risk I've made peace with."

A fan base that plans ahead, sort of

Not every patron is treating the early opening as a time-zone workaround. Dennis Yarro, 41, a Red Arrow regular, said he intends to arrive at the posted early-open time regardless of kickoff, on the theory that a seat secured at 6:30 is a seat he does not have to defend at 7:55.

"I've learned the hard way that showing up right at kickoff means standing by the jukebox," Yarro said. "I don't even care what time it is in Los Angeles. I care what time the stools fill up, and that's closer to 7."

All three bars said they expect the early-opening approach to become standard practice for any future Badgers game with a Pacific or Mountain kickoff, rather than a one-time accommodation for Saturday.