DraftKings is launching a new venue geared toward attracting an upscale clientele, with its first grand opening set for Michigan this week.
The mobile sportsbook giant is hosting the grand opening of the country’s first DraftKings Sports & Social Thursday at Somerset Collection, an upscale shopping mall in Troy anchored by Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. While DraftKings has other brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in Michigan, as well as other states including Illinois and Mississippi, Thursday’s higher-end opening will be the first of its kind through the operator’s partnership with Live! Hospitality & Entertainment.
“Our core mission with DraftKings Sports & Social is to ‘raise the sports bar’ and set the new standard for dining and sports entertainment,” said Scott Steenrod, COO of Live! Hospitality & Entertainment, in a statement. “Forging this strategic relationship with DraftKings, an industry leader in sports betting, has allowed us to create an iconic entertainment and dining destination where sports entertainment and sports betting will come together to create a truly premier experience. We’re thrilled for the public to experience the venue first-hand at the height of the NFL and college football seasons.”
Plenty of food, drink, games, and sports
The 10,400-square-foot venue includes a 32-foot LED media wall, and game days will feature emcees and DJs, live fan cams, competitions, and games, along with what the company is billing as industry-leading audio and visual displays. Guests can place bets via mobile devices.
The menu is billed as an “elevated gastropub,” with lunch and dinner served seven days a week and brunch on weekends. Signature items will include upscale versions of game-day favorites such as hamburgers, sandwiches, salads, nachos, and wings, plus Crush cocktails and a variety of beers and wines.
For weekend brunch, the companies are promising dishes like Chicken & Bliss, avocado toast, and savory breakfast skillets. It will have an exclusive DraftKings Lounge for private parties and events and a dog-friendly outdoor patio for warmer days. Among the entertainment options are Skee-Ball, hoops, Beirut, foosball, shufflepuck and arcade games.
DraftKings said it will announce more sites in high-profile entertainment districts, casino resorts, and pro sports stadiums for Sports & Social venues in the coming months. They are being designed by the design and development firm ICRAVE.
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