Tonight's Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao bout may be the fight of the century, but for some Baltimore bar and club owners, it's just another way the city's ongoing curfew is costing them and their employees money.
Several businesses had planned parties and other special events surrounding the pay-per-view tilt, which is scheduled to start at midnight Eastern time in Las Vegas. But with their patrons having to be off city streets by 10 p.m., those plans have been canceled.
"We expected this to be the biggest night in the history of this nine-year-old club," said Brian Shulman, owner of Scores Gentlemen's Club on Fallsway, which has a total capacity of about 400. Seating at Scores, he said, was sold out a month and a half ago; the cover would have been $40 a head.
"My losses are probably close to the $50,000 range," Shulman said. "And it's not just the impact to the bar. We would have had about 50 entertainers working tonight, plus other bar staff and kitchen staff, cocktail waitresses. Close to 100 people will not be working tonight."
At the Smaltimore bar and restaurant in Canton, owner Jason Zink said he had planned sell 100 tickets, at $70 each, to watch the fight. He had sold 34 as of Monday, and has "no doubt" he would have had a sold-out crowd this evening.
"People have been looking forward to this fight for such a long time," he said. But now, "unless they go to the county and spend the night," city fight fans are going to be out of luck.
"I put a lot of time and effort into this event to promote it," Zink said. "The whole thing, from top to bottom, it hurts a lot of people."
Zink said Friday was the first night the curfew had a major impact on his bar, given the normally sparse crowds on weeknights. "It hurt last night, and it will hurt tonight," he said.
On Facebook, Jimmy's Famous Seafood said that it was returning money paid by patrons to view the fight.
"Due to the wonderful leadership shown by our great Mayor, we will not be able to broadcast tonight's Mayweather vs. Pacquiao Fight. We will be issuing full refunds to those who pre-purchased tickets, despite not being able to recoup the 10K we paid to show the fights," the restaurant posted Saturday afternoon on social media.
Both Zink and Shulman questioned the need to continue the curfew, which was implemented by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Tuesday night, in the wake of lootings and unrest following the death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old African-American man died April 19 after being injured while in police custody.
"I don't think the curfew was necessary once the National Guard came in," said Zink. "Once they brought in the guard, I thought we would have been fine."
Shulman, who said he probably won't open until the curfew is lifted, said he was worried about the long-term impact of the mayor's decision, not just on his business, but on all of Baltimore.
"We were hoping that this was such a big event, that it would overcome people's hesitancy to come to Baltimore," he said. "Once they get deterred from coming once, where does it end? Do they come back next time?"