loess

•

The
pedaling

Two partners open
an arena-size
sports bar that
could rouse even
the most hardened
couch potato.

PAUL L. GABA
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Spectadium
partners Robert
Bronstein and
Mark Alhermizi

B

ill Veeck. Abe Saperstein. Amos Alonzo
Stagg — all great innovators of sports
through the ages.
Then there's Robert Bronstein of Oak
Park. He's not a Hall of Farner, but he has
done something for the world of sports that
may cripple the competition.
Mr. Bronstein, 29, and his partner,
West Bloomfield attorney Mark Alhermizi,
last month opened the 8,000-square-foot
Spectadium SportsVideo Bar & Grill in Troy
— seven years to the day Wrigley Field in
Chicago finally saw night baseball.
The bar-restaurant, on Livernois just south
of Big Beaver, has become one of the hottest
sports bars for fans of all ages to gather,
watch sports on the tube, hoist a few beers
and eat at a decent price.
Not only do patrons get the chance to
watch any number of sporting events on
dozens of TV monitors, they get to do it in
what Mr. Bronstein describes as a setting
"better than being at the stadium."
One side of the huge restaurant has mul-
tilevel tiered seating, a setting akin to the
luxury boxes at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
The bar is set up like home plate at Tiger Sta-
dium, with an endless selection of liquor and
beer labels.
So, what else separates Spectadium from
other sports bars in the area? No team pen-
nants, signed uniforms or autographed
celebrity pics lining the walls, for one. Mr. ,
Bronstein says he wanted the operation to
be viewed as a first-class dining establish-
ment and a sports fan's haven.
"I just wanted to make this place the best
place to come and watch sports," he says.
"That was the main focus: watching TV."
Of course, to attract sports addicts it helps

to have those televisions in as many places
as possible. Spectadium has more video links
than Barry Sanders has touchdown runs —
20 31-inch TVs around the bar, three 12-foot
screens on the walls, televisions in the re-
strooms.
"Every TV is accessible to any channel,"
Mr. Bronstein says. 'We've got three satel-
lite dishes on the roof, cable and regular TV.
We have a lot of access. On a football Sun-
day, we could have five games going at once.
We've got access to pretty much anything you
would want and anything you could get."
Each of the large-screen televisions has its
own SurroundSound section, adding to the
"feel" of being at the game. In those areas,
the only game you will hear is the game you
are watching.
The sporting events don't have to be "live,"
either. Spectadium offers the chance to re-
live golden sports moments via videotape,
whether it's the 1980 "Miracle On Ice"
Olympic hockey team or Kirk Gibson's 1984
World Series heroics.
Then there's the food. Charles Williams,
the former executive chef at Morton's Steak
House in Southfield, has designed a menu
that offers more than the usual buffalo wings
and fries. How about Spectadium Sliders for
an appetizer? Maybe a bowl of chilled banana
strawberry soup? A 2/3-pound sirloin burg-
er? Pizza? Or, maybe broiled Lake Superior
whitefish or a juicy 24-ounce Porterhouse
steak is what you're looking for while cheer-
ing the Red Wings to victory?
And none of the dishes is named for Alan
Trammell, Steve Yzerman or Grant Hill —
a calculated move by Mr. Bronstein and Mr.
Alhermizi to separate Spectadium from the
pack.

Spectadium opened to the public two days
after its official opening, which honored De-
troit sports broadcasters like former Tigers
color man Paul Carey, current Tigers an-
nouncers Frank Beckman and Lary
Sorensen, and University of Michigan foot-
ball commentators Jim Brandstatter and
Mark Champion.
There have been, and will be, live radio
sportscasts, as well. Detroit Free Press sports
columnist Mitch Albom recently hosted his
"Sunday Sports Albom" show from Specta-
dium, and Detroit Lions wide receiver Her-
man Moore will host a weekly Wednesday
show from the locale during football season.
Spectadium, which seats 200 and has room
for another 215 standing-room-only, began
as an idea almost three years ago.
'We started off with a business plan and
it just took off from there," Mr. Bronstein said.
Building began in late 1994.
Mr. Bronstein is not new to the world of
drinking and dining establishments, nor to
the concept of self-employment. He owned
a lawn-mowing service company while tak-
ing business classes at Wayne State Uni-
versity, and spent six years in the
bar/restaurant profession, including tending LO
bar and managing the lounge at Southfield's CY)
Plaza Hotel for five years.
Mr. Bronstein and Mr. Alhermizi met eight co
years ago while the latter was attending the CC
LLJ
University of Michigan. The two became CO
friends, and when Mr. Bronstein began seri- LLJ
ously looking at creating Spectadium, the two
0
put their heads together.
LLJ
Mr. Alhermizi, 28, says he played devil's Cr)
advocate when his friend approached him
with the idea for Spectadium. Then he 41

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