Named one of the 25 Best Sports Bars by Sports Illustrated magazine, Playmakers in Fargo, ND is one of the best sports bars/entertainment complexes I've ever been in.
Situated on the west side of Fargo (see map), Playmakers is a sports bar, casino, night club, and show venue all rolled into one. It is truly amazing and is something to see.
Playmakers is owned by Lee Swanson, Jr., a Fargo area man who has built his fortune with Swanson Health Products, a large vitamin mail-order company founded by his father in the 60's. Swanson also owns a number of gentleman's clubs around the Fargo area, as well.
My dealer in Fargo installed a whole house audio/video system into Lee Swanson, Jr's luxury loft apartment in downtown Fargo, so he has inside privilege to getting behind the scenes at Playmakers. After he took me on a tour of Lee's loft, he took me over to Playmakers.
Swanson opened Playmakers in the 80's, primarily as a sports bar. In 1991, Swanson opened "The Pavilion", which was nothing more than a large pole barn attached to Playmakers primarily used for live musical acts and boxing events. A couple years ago, Swanson sunk millions of dollars into The Pavilion to update it. And how. The Pavilion gave way to "The Venue"
The Venue is pretty nifty - it's a large area that will seat 500 people, or accommodate up to 2000 people for standing room only for small concerts. It has it's own permanent stage with high tech lighting and a state-of-the-art P.A. system. It has a main bar area in the back side of the main floor, and a more formal bar area upstairs in the balcony area.
The Venue has a number of private "sky-boxes" in the balcony that are either owned or can be rented out for events and concerts. There's a mezzanine of tables and chairs on the front side of the balcony that are terraced for optimum viewing. (My dealer said he saw a recent Bruce Hornsby show from those seats.)
There's also a nice little lounge area in the back part of the balcony, called "The Sky Box Lounge" that includes a pool table and comfortable seating, along with large screen televisions. For Fargo, it's pretty classy. Actually, if it were in Chicago, it would still be pretty classy.
There are two 16 foot projection screens on either side of the stage, along with a number of plasma screens along the wall to allow people to see the performance. My dealer said that he bid on the plasmas, but the bid went to the people who put in the P.A. system. He said, "Lee told me that he just felt it would be more prudent to keep the number of sub-contractors to a minimum. To be quite honest with you, I'm glad I didn't get the job."
The main sports bar/casino at Playmakers is one of the nicest I've ever been in. With 4 large screens, a number of plasma panels and individual 13" LCD monitors in each booth, there's no way a person could miss any of the action on TV. The casual, yet classy atmosphere of the sports bar area makes Playmakers one of the most unique sports bars I've ever seen.
Off to the other side of the sports bar area, there's "The House of Rock", an upscale nightclub/dance club area. The club features diverse music selections - everything from rock to country to hip-hop to 50's and 60's. The decor is funky and art-decoish, and it looked like it would be a fun place.
We were there in the middle part of the morning before the bar/restaurant opened up, but I checked out the menu and it looked like it was a little more than just your standard sports bar food. My dealer said, "Oh, yeah. They have steaks and seafood here. The food is wonderful. My wife and I come here quite a bit to eat."
Fargo is one of those cities that is surprisingly nice. In my visits to the area, I've gone away with a more positive image of the town each time I've left. And Playmakers is one of those places that helps make Fargo truly surprising. It may be the nicest sports bar complex I've ever been in.
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