AC34: Where Sport and Entertainment Meet

The Staples Center is a multi-purpose sports arena in Downtown Los Angeles, and is home to the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

However, since sports have evolved into an entertainment business, it was a natural for an entertainment complex – L.A. Live – to be developed adjacent to the sports arena. L.A. Live features sports and music venues, night clubs, restaurants, a bowling alley, museum, movie theaters, and hotels.

If only the America’s Cup would stay in one City.

Seeking to do their best to surround the 34th edition with entertainment, the Cup organizers in San Francisco have already launched a summer concert series in a temporary 9,000 seat outdoor venue built on Piers 27/29. And now the next chip to drop in all the America’s Cup festivities is a giant bar in the event’s makeshift village on Embarcadero and Pier 27.

Simply dubbed America’s Cup Sports Bar, it will be run by some veteran San Francisco restaurant folks, providing 12,000-plus square feet and a capacity of 500 people. They’re calling it the world’s largest pop-up bar, with indoor and outdoor areas, opening up to the slips where the extra-fancy yachts will be parked. There will be three bars, giant 20-by-30 foot sliding doors, and happy hours on off-days; the concert venue is right next door.

“We think it’s going to be the place to watch the races,” says local restaurateur Eric Rubin.

It opens July 4, and will stay open through September’s America’s Cup activities. The plan is to be open daily from 11am – 10pm and until 11pm on Friday and Saturday. – Inside Scoop SF, full report