{"id":216079,"date":"2026-03-23T02:47:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/216079\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T02:47:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T02:47:07","slug":"texas-mens-and-womens-teams-reach-sweet-16-boosting-austin-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/216079\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams reach Sweet 16, boosting Austin businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas\u2019 deep run in March Madness is paying off beyond the court, with Austin bars and businesses reporting a surge in customers as both the Longhorns men\u2019s and women\u2019s teams advance to the Sweet 16.<\/p>\n

Businesses say the tournament games have brought more people through the door, especially with the women\u2019s team playing nearby at Moody Center this weekend.<\/p>\n

At Scholz Garten, one of the closest bars to Moody Center, assistant manager Creighton McFarlin said the crowds have helped offset what is typically a slower stretch during spring break.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis one has really made up our weekend,\u201d McFarlin said. \u201cThis was painted in burnt orange about 15 minutes ago.”<\/p>\n

McFarlin said the boost has been significant for workers and the broader area. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge for staff, it\u2019s huge for the community, it\u2019s incredible to have a busy day like we are having today. I was looking at the numbers, we did our best day all week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

ALSO: One person dead, police investigating homicide in E Austin near Mueller<\/a> <\/p>\n

Fans around town said they believe both teams can keep the run going.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they can go all the way, to tell you the truth. They got the momentum going. The guys won yesterday. We\u2019re just trying to keep that going,\u201d said Valerie Gonzalez and Jose Valencia, Austinites. \u201cThey\u2019re doing their thing. The girls are doing their thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the Drag, 1972 Pub, a women\u2019s sports bar, also reported increased business even as many students were away from campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cSunday afternoons, they\u2019re pretty steady. Not quite the gigantic mass that it usually is for the tournament. So yeah, definitely just a huge uptick,\u201d said Peeps Barlow, the pub\u2019s front-of-house manager.<\/p>\n

The Longhorns will try to keep the momentum going with the men\u2019s team playing again on Thursday. The women\u2019s team is set to play Saturday in Forth Worth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 Texas\u2019 deep run in March Madness is paying off beyond the court, with Austin bars…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":216080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-216079","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}