Good Bar For Nfl Playoffs And Superbowl?

[dipolar]

I coming to BKK next week for a few months and I was wondering what are some good bars/pubs that will have the NFL playoffs and Superbowl playing live on tv. I know the games will be early morning, but I want to watch in real time. ???? I need to watch my Packers!

[unclueng]

You won't have to worry about watching your Packers. They just blew it. NYG37/GB20.

[lomatopo]

The challenge here is that the live game times do not line up with typical bar opening hours. Additionally, not every bar has the right satellite connections.

The Superbowl will not be an issue; start time ~ 06:25 AM on Monday, February 6, 2012 as many establishments will have events as they have in the past. You can search through recent years' threads for ideas, and I'm sure there will be many threads over the coming 3 weeks.

The AFC Championship game will be at 03:00 AM on Monday, January 23, 2012, and I am not sure (now) if any of the usual places will stay/re-open for that game. I think maybe not.

The NFC Championship game will start at 06:30 AM on Monday, January 23, 2012. I suspect places like The Tavern (Soi 4) and The Sport Corner (Soi 20) may open early for that game?

And you can ask them to replay the Giants v. Packers game, OK maybe not.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Regarding the Super Bowl, one of the regular places that has hosted Super Bowl viewings in past years has been the Bourbon Street Restaurant, which has just recently relocated to Ekkamai Soi 63...

Here's the map for their new location...

http://www.bourbonst...bon_st_map.html

I haven't seen anything from them yet...as for their Super Bowl plans for this year. But I'm pretty sure they will, since that's their tradition.

Another likely candidate for the Playoff Games as well as the Super Bowl would be Home Run Bar on Suk Soi 31...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Home-Run-Bar-Grill-Bangkok/107675352627100?sk=info

If their handling of last week's playoff games is any indication, they might be showing both games live...early in the morning BKK time...and then doing a replay the next evening.

Edited January 22, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[rojack45]

I have just opened a new bar/lounge in Silom and am working hard to have live American sports on my 2 screens in time for Superbowl. We are located right on Surawong Road just 30 meters from Soi Patpong (where the night-market is) The bar is called Oasis and it is down 6 or 7 steps from sidewalk level. I have 51" and a 42" plasma screens, 2 very very nice pool tables, set in a clean, cool environment. We have a large kitchen and shortly we will offer a full menu of authentic Thai and good mix of western selections.

For Superbowl day we want to open early and serve an awesome hot breakfast in preperation for the game. And then in the evening watch the replay with finger food type menu available. If its allowed by the mods I'll post a few more details when I get things tightened up.

Thanks

Rojack - Oasis Lounge

Oasis Online Cafe & Business Center

[bud7]

Does anyone know yet if TrueVisions/UBC will be carrying the Supebowl? I couldn't find the Conference championship games this monring.

[lomatopo]

Does anyone know yet if TrueVisions/UBC will be carrying the Supebowl? I couldn't find the Conference championship games this monring.

No. Since last August (2011) Grammy has exclusive rights to ASN here. I'm also certain that the Superbowl will not be on free Thai TV, so you'll be limited to Grammy, or other satellite feeds of ASN from other countries, or streaming sources on the internet.

The Sport Corner, Sukhumvit Soi 20, will open ~ 05:30 on Monday, February 6, 2012 for the Superbowl.

Edited January 23, 2012 by lomatopo

[ChrisinBkk]

Hey Everyone,

I'm from RI and I want to go watch the SuperBowl live at a sports bar somewhere but I'm hesisitent to go because I have no American friends in Bangkok to go with. And I dont wanna walk into a bar a have it be filled with only girls and nobody watching the game. So if anyone or any group plan on going please post your plans so I (and others) can find the right bar to go to.

BTW..Im a Patriots Fan! Also, I'm not going to be selling anything or asking for any freebies, just looking for people to sit with and enjoy a great game.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I really don't think you have to worry about the things you mention above...

There aren't SO many places that are going to be showing the Super Bowl live...at that hour of the morning.

Those that do, based on past experience, usually draw a pretty good crowd of male and some female farang football fans... a good portion Americans but other nationalities as well.

And there aren't likely to be a lot of bar girls hanging around at that hour of the morning, other than the wait staff serving breakfast food and drinks during the game.

I guess I should add for clarity, both the Bourbon Street and Home Run places I mentioned above are regular restaurants/pubs.... not the same as Nana or Soi Cowboy bars... So the only "girls" they're usually filled with are the companions of farang customers.

However, Loma raised an interesting point above... Now this year that TrueVisions won't be carrying the game because they no longer have the ASN cable sports channel, perhaps the number of places showing the Super Bowl in BKK will narrow because more places probably have access to TrueVisions for their television feed, whereas fewer have non-Thai satellite. But most if not all of the "sports bars" almost certainly have satellite.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Here's the link and confirmation for the Sports Corner.

http://www.thesportcorner.com/

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Some of the other venues that showed the Super Bowl last year....but not sure about this year...are:

Roadhouse BBQ in Silom:

http://www.roadhousebarbecue.com/

Big Mango Bar, Soi Nana

http://www.bigmangobar.com/

But I don't see anything re the Super Bowl this year as yet on their web sites...But it's a bit early still.

[ChrisinBkk]

Thanks for the info John. I think the BTS doesn't start running till 6am so do you know other ways i can get to The Sports Corner (MRT, or bus from Victory Monument)? Also i was just wondering how much is there "nominal fee"?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Re the location of the Sports Corner, it's going to be closest to both the MRT Sukhumvit Station and the BTS Asoke Station, which are located together.... Then the Sports Corner is just a few blocks outward on Sukhumvit Road from there to Soi 20.

But I believe you're right about both BTS and MRT opening at 6 am.... If that's too late for you, a taxi at that hour of the morning would be both quick and relatively cheap due to minimal traffic.

I don't know about the "nominal fee" they're talking about, but in their case, I'd assume it would be indeed nominal... But if you're concerned, you could always call ahead to check.

[lomatopo]

Also i was just wondering how much is there "nominal fee"?

I may be wrong, I often am, but I inferred that "nominal fee" at the Sport Corner's Superbowl event referred to the buffet breakfast? That is to say, if you want to have the buffet you will pay a nominal fee, if not then no fee, just 50 baht cans of Coke.

You can drop them an email for more details; there are responsive.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I also assumed the nominal fee reference was in regard to their breakfast buffet.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Big Mango Bar off Suk Soi 4 sent out an email to subscribers today asking if they want the bar to open early for a Super Bowl showing...

Anyone interested can respond to them directly via their website:

www.bigmangobar.com/main/2012/01/25/superbowl-2012-feb-5th-i-think/

Edited January 25, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[lomatopo]

Big Mango Bar off Suk Soi 4 sent out an email to subscribers today asking if they want the bar to open early for a Super Bowl showing...

Anyone interested can respond to them directly via their website:

www.bigmangobar.com/main/2012/01/25/superbowl-2012-feb-5th-i-think/

Do they have ASN? I know they did when it was on TrueVisions. Do they now have Grammy? Or a ASN feed via satellite from another country?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Don't know the answer to those ?s, Loma, since I'm not really any kind of regular customer of theirs.

But I see no comments/responses on their web/blog posted on the subject as of this afternoon.

Edited January 26, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Folks here may know I'm a big fan of the NFL's Game Rewind service, which provides on-demand streaming of all NFL games available within 24 hours after the conclusion of the live game... provided you're accessing the service with a U.S. IP address to subscribe and log-in.

Just as another alternative for the Super Bowl, it also is available on that time-delayed, on-demand basis via NFL Game Rewind. For $14.99, the NFL has a "Playoffs" subscription that includes online access to the entire regular season schedule and all the playoffs through Feb. 13.

One of the things I like about Game Rewind is it avoids the time differential that comes into play when trying to watch the games live from the U.S. You can watch when you want, when it's convenient, stop, pause, rewind, etc etc... and the game videos are entirely commercial free.

And lately, and this is the first time I've ever seen them offer this, (though it's been long overdue), the NFL is now offering an offseason Game Rewind subscription for every regular season and playoff game for $19.99, valid from Feb. 7 through July 31. With all the past flooding hassles and headaches, I missed a lot of the season when I was too busy with other things... So that will be my chance to go back and pick up some games I missed.

Again, to subscribe and access the VOD version of the games (which are commercial-free), you need a U.S. IP address.

[lomatopo]

you need a U.S. IP address.

To register? To access (watch games)? Both? If both then you also need to factor in the VPN service I guess?

How is the video quality? Do you watch these on a larger screen TV or a smaller PC screen?

If I don't watch the games live I just BT the game (I usually only watch one team) I want. I can typically get the game within 24 hours. I'm just got week 9, Pats v. Giants, and Giants v. Niners, to get ready for the Superbowl.

Edited January 26, 2012 by lomatopo

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

To register? To access (watch games)? Both? If both then you also need to factor in the VPN service I guess?

How is the video quality? Do you watch these on a larger screen TV or a smaller PC screen?

Let me cover the answers to those questions, Loma...

You need a U.S. IP address to a) even access the NFL website for Game Rewind, b] to subscribe to the service, and c) to actually view the games on demand with your Game Rewind subscription.

I have a VPN account, about $5 a month, for a variety of other purposes including this one... But I find that the best speed is obtained by using a private proxy that comes with my service... PPTP is slower...and Open SSL is even slower still.

As for the Game Rewind player, it's Adobe Flash based at present. And the individual user can adjust the video quality settings within the player from a low of a 400 Kbps stream, 800 Kbps, 1000 or 1200, up to 3 Mbps max, I believe.

When I've used the service, with True's 10 Mbps cable connection, it usually runs fine without stalling or excessive buffering. My True service pretty much always supports at least the 400 Kbps stream, and depending on the day/time, often can support better, 800 Kbps or higher.

When I watch Game Rewind, it's usually on a 24 in. bedroom or 32 in. living room TV via an attached laptop. The video quality is fine, though not HD. Obviously, the higher stream rate a person can achieve without buffering/stalling, the better the video quality and the larger the TV it's going to support well.

One interesting quirk I've noticed about Game Rewind, which is different than a lot of the other video services, is this: you do need an active U.S. IP in order to launch the playing of a game... But once the streaming has started, you can exit out of a proxy or similar and just continue watching with a local connection as long as you don't quit the player or re-start the game. That aids in avoiding stream speed loss associated with VPN/PPTP services.

Edited January 26, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

fyi, another option for watching the Super Bowl this year supposedly will be to watch the entire game online live via NBC Sports web site...

I'm seeing various news reports indicating that this year's Super Bowl will be the first ever to be streamed online in its entirety.... legally from the source.

The news reports don't address this, but I'm guessing the ability to access the NBC Sports website for the game will require a U.S. IP address.

See more info below:

http://allthingsd.com/20120131/nbc-puts-the-super-bowl-on-the-web-because-it-thinks-youll-watch-it-on-tv/

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/