Brickell pub breaks up with Miami, temporarily, to host a Hoosiers watch party – NBC 6 South Florida

You can expect a sea of cream and crimson in the heart of Miami on Monday as Batch Gastropub in Brickell gears up to host a Hoosiers watch party.

“Miami and Hurricanes, we love you, but we have Indiana in our roots, we’re breaking up for a week,” is what Batch Gastropub posted a few days ago, claiming its Brickell location is the home of the Hoosiers in South Florida.

And it’s for good reason. Batch’s owner, Kevin Danilo, is a proud Indiana University alum.

“Over the last decade or so, we were kind of the unofficial Indiana bar. I put a football helmet up on our host stand as a joke,” Danilo said. “Nobody would ever come out, and we would once in a while have a game that three or four people showed up for, and we didn’t do great.”

But this past year, it all changed.

Local Indiana fans like Josh Spitz are locked in and ready for the game.

“Hoo… hoo… hoo… hoosiers!” chanted Spitz. “To have the championship in Miami, and against Miami, I think that’s the pinnacle to reach the top.”

With Indiana’s historic and so far perfect season led by Miami native Fernando Mendoza, Danilo started to see a shift.

“The energy has grown, and it’s cool because up until this game, Miami supported Indiana,” Danilo said. “It’s the Cinderella story. It’s the team that kind of came from nowhere.”

His social media post generated a buzz among Hoosiers who rallied in support.

“The post we put up was kind of a joke, and especially in a city like Miami, we’re breaking up for a week, and we’ll figure it back out in a week,” Danilo said. “We hope everybody understands this isn’t a money grab, this is kind of our roots and where we come from, and if it was any team other than Indiana, we would certainly be rooting for the Canes.”

While it may be a Hoosiers watch party, you may see some people in Canes gear because Danilo said everyone is welcome.

“We still love the Hurricanes; they’re still welcome at the party. Indiana people are super kind and generous, you know, there won’t be any issues, but it’s pretty cool to be able to be here and watch this and celebrate with the people I went to school with,” Danilo said.

With the largest living alumni network in the country at more than 805,000 Indiana University graduates, South Florida can expect to see lots of Hoosiers over the long weekend.