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ST. LOUIS — After a conference title-winning inaugural year, St. Louis City SC’s return to the pitch has nearby businesses bolstering their game-day offerings, hoping to continue their soccer-related revenue.

The area surrounding CityPark saw over $73 million more in taxable revenue between January and September 2023 than in the same period the year before, bolstering hopes that the Major League Soccer stadium would flood nearby businesses with customers and spur economic regeneration in the neighborhood.

Taxable sales collected within the 63103 ZIP code — bounded roughly by Grand Boulevard to the west, Tucker Boulevard to the east, Chouteau Avenue to the south and Delmar Boulevard to the north — totaled nearly $441 million, nearing pre-pandemic numbers.

This is over $73 million more than what was reported in 2022 for the same period, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

During St. Louis City SC’s home opener last month, Schlafly Tap Room saw over 2,500 people on game day, similar to what they had last year, but the company said sales improved significantly, especially outside in the improved pre-match area, which was reconfigured for better flow and access to points of sale, said Dan Jameson, Schlafly’s head of brewpub operation.

After seeing the success of last season’s tailgates, Schlafly Tap Room puts up drink tents and serves a match day menu with snacks like soft pretzels with cheese, pulled pork, bratwursts and Red Hot Riplets pork rinds.

“I want the pubs to be more fun because if the pubs are more fun, more people come,� said Jameson. “If more people come, sales are up.�

The Tap Room plans to add additional televisions in the bar for away game watch parties.

“We never in our wildest dreams would think that we’d become a soccer pub,� Jameson said.

After a rocky start hosting soccer fans last season, The Pepper Lounge, about three blocks north of CityPark, has ramped up its soccer-related events. General manager Kelly Clark said the nightclub is transforming its front lounge into a sports bar, offering featured drinks and hosting different food trucks on match days.

Clark has noticed one side effect of the soccer development — there is less criminal activity around the nightclub compared to last year and the year before. Still, the business remains vigilant when it comes to safety, especially on match days, adding security on busy days, walking people to their cars, calling Ubers for guests who have had too much to drink and encouraging folks with valuables in their cars to park close to the venue.

“Everything doesn’t change because of soccer,� Clark said. “Things don’t change because of money. We’re still focused on safety.�

The London Tea Room, an English tea shop and events space, relocated to Locust Street from Tower Grove in late 2022 with hopes of capitalizing off of the area’s shiny new soccer stadium and other revitalization, said owner Jackie James.

Since then, some customers have told James that they are unwilling to travel to her new location because of assumptions of a violent and crime-ridden downtown, she said.

“They’re very much the minority,� James said. “But they’ll say ‘I don’t come downtown for anything.’�

The tea shop owner said she hopes this will change and estimates that the neighborhood will be completely revitalized within five years.

“It’s really up and coming, just so much going on here and people moving in,� James said.

Other businesses are also going all in this year to capitalize off of the soccer buzz.

Nearby on Olive Street, dispensary Viola STL just celebrated its one year anniversary downtown and sales are about what they anticipated, co-founder Dan Pettigrew said.

Soccer fans have been supportive of the business during games and Pettigrew estimated that the dispensary saw about 65,000 customers last year. He said they hope to grow sales by 30% in 2024.

“We work with vendors to get as much activity around the game as possible,� Pettigrew said. “We want to be an institution in that area. We focus a lot of our attention on events.�

Pettigrew said they will continue to offer specials and discounts during soccer matches and other downtown events such as festivals, concerts and parades.

More broadly, Pettigrew said he is excited for the downtown resurgence St. Louis City SC is contributing to and he anticipates increasing growth in the area.

“It’s crazy,� he said of St. Louis’ soccer mania. “Soccer is huge in the area. It’s good to see it manifest for the team. We’ve really enjoyed fans coming by.�