Fans flock to Columbia bars, restaurants during Tigers’ Cotton Bowl victory
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
As the Missouri Tigers put the finishing touches on their 14-3 Cotton Bowl victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes, some local Columbia bars and restaurants were packed with fans.
It’s not every day you get to watch your team play in the Cotton Bowl, but for University of Missouri senior Josh Margherita, the game day tradition stayed the same.
“(I'm) here for the Cotton Bowl, of course. Big game big night,” Margherita said. “I usually watch every game right here at Harpo's.”
Despite the odds makers having Mizzou listed as underdogs, fans were optimistic that the ninth-ranked Tigers could cap off their season in style.
“We’ll be up one touchdown, but it will be a close game,” Corey Joseph Simmons, a lifelong Mizzou fan predicted. Simmons says he is a Mizzou fan despite not attending the University.
But fans weren't the only ones relishing in the football team's success. The 11-win season also had an impact on local businesses.
“We always love when Mizzou is doing well all the bars, restaurants, hotels everyone does well downtown we love to be a part of it,” Harpo's general manager Jack Stephens said.
After a relatively quiet afternoon, Shakespeare's Pizza wait times shot up to a half hour as kickoff approached.
On the southside of town at Pappo’s Pizza, wait times to get a table were up to 45 minutes once the game got underway. A Pappo’s employee told ABC 17 News that while they are usually busy on Friday nights, but it was nothing compared to the Cotton Bowl crowd.
Meanwhile, Tiger fans hope the New Year’s Six bowl victory is one of many to come.
"Always a die-hard fan but I think this is the beginning of greatness,” Simmons said.
