Businesses score big with sales in Auburn Hills for NCAA tournament

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (WXYZ) - March madness means you will likely find it to be a mad house at restaurants near the Palace of Auburn Hills during the venue's two days of hosting games.

“Yep, we’re going to all of them. Go Blue!” said Tim Delisle. Delisle and his friends are going to every game, and they came prepared with a heated ice shanty for tailgating.

“When you look at the temperatures and it’s going to be 24 degrees you know to bring the ice fishing shanty, right?” asked Delisle. It is hard to go wrong with a tailgate setup like his, but for basketball fans without their own heated ice shack, businesses like Culver’s welcomed them indoors.

“It was actually crazy we saw a lot of state fans and Michigan fans and they were just going, go green, go blue,” said Lozijana Aziri. The Culver’s employee came in two hours early for the bigger crowds.

“I left school early to come here and work earlier and a lot of other people did to so yeah it was really busy,” said Aziri.

The businesses that show the games on TV like The Venue Bar and Grill, know they will score with fans all day.

“Umm, I was actually here to watch the Michigan State game and I actually have tickets to this game,” said Jason Praet.  Praet and his friends thought they had tickets to the U of M game, but turns out the tickets were really for the MSU game! Oops.

“We had tickets for the MSU game, we thought they were for the Michigan game but they’re not, so we are stuck here,” said Praet.  He was one of the many people who packed the place during the day. To handle the larger crowds, the eatery opened up earlier than they normally do.

“It’s probably the best day since I’ve been here and I’ve been here about 10 months,” said owner Greg Marselis. He said they also brought in more workers to handle the load. 

“This is a little different because there are four basketball games so it just gets a little crazier because it’s an all day event,” said Marselis.

Businesses owners were rooting for the local teams to win because when they do,  everyone seems to come out ahead. Owners hope to score big with sales again for the games on Saturday.