The biggest winners in the World Cup are the pubs.
Big Apple bars cashing in on soccer mania the past two weeks are tracking the tournament in extra kegs, cartons of eggs and extra staffers hired to keep fans happy.
“On an average day in June, we’d usually pour a couple of pints. Now we’re pouring hundreds and hundreds,” said Jack Keane, owner of soccer mecca Nevada Smiths in the East Village.
There’s a good 62.5 gallons of the amber nectar in 500 pints.
“If there was no World Cup right now, we would have no business. Literally, there’d be nobody here,” Keane added, saying he expects to see 100,000 patrons by mid-July.
He’s opening up at 7 a.m. rather than noon, ordering 30,000 plastic cups rather than providing glasses, and hiring six bouncers instead of the usual staff of one.
Prof Thom’s sports bar, also in the East Village, transformed itself from a Boston-themed watering hole to World Cup headquarters.
“We have more than doubled our weekly order of beer,” said co-owner Chris Wertz.
“It was so packed the last game that our barback couldn’t get into the basement.
“So, we’ve hired someone to stand outside the keg room with a walkie-talkie to change the beers,” he said.
He doubled his weekly keg order to 40 — some 620 gallons of beer — added 20 cases of tall-boy Bud Light and an extra case of Jagermeister.
‘Cup’ runneth over
Nevada Smiths: Wentthrough 30,000 plastic cups
Prof. Thom’s: Doubled weekly keg shipment to 20
Village Pourhouse: Went through 2,000 eggs
8 Mile Creek: Went through 60 cases of Aussiebeer, 10 extra kegs
Manny’s on Second Avenue: Tripled lunches served this week to 75