Card Spending Rose 5.3% in U.S. World Cup Host Cities, 3.8% Elsewhere

Card spending at brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants and bars across the 11 U.S. World Cup host cities rose 5.3% year-over-year in the three weeks ending June 27, outpacing the 3.8% increase recorded elsewhere in the country, Fortune reported. The pattern reversed the prior three weeks, when host cities had trailed national growth.

Los Angeles and New York recorded the strongest gains among host cities, while New York also received at least $380 million from the Knicks’ championship run.

Seattle showed little change because retail spending there was already strong before the tournament. The Samuel Adams Taproom in downtown Boston sold more than 7,000 pints of Boston Lager between June 11 and June 21, emptying 99 kegs plus two full tanks equivalent to another 30 kegs and requiring five emergency deliveries.

It served roughly 10,000 pints total, about four times the volume of a typical long holiday weekend.

“We were prepared for the influx of international visitors but could have never prepared for their preference for our flagship, Boston Lager,” said Devon Savage, manager of communications for the Samuel Adams brand. Staff ordered traffic cones for Scottish fans to sign, and seven signed cones remained on display after the tournament.

Coogan’s and the Black Rose, both part of the Glynn Hospitality Group in Boston, went through more than 500 kegs of Bud Light in June.

Katie Freeman, a third-generation member of the family running the group, said the crowds were “super kind, fun” and created an atmosphere like “St. ” Joe’s Kansas City Barbecue prepared more than 400 slabs of ribs at each of its three locations during the tournament, compared with a normal weekend range of 300 to 320 slabs.