Local bars welcome return of NCAA tournament

SOUTH BEND, Ind.--- Bars across South Bend are welcoming the start of the 2021 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Last year's tournament was canceled due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

"That was hard last year, hard for the staff, hard for the customers, so there’s a lot of excitement this year of getting back to that," said Jeff Morauski, Co-owner of Taphouse on the Edge in South Bend.

Morauski says the tournament brings the community closer together and not having one last year was a tough pill to swallow. 

"The tournament does a good job of drawing those nonsports fans into the tournament just because of the bracket and I think that adds to the excitement."

Morauski also says that even though Notre Dame won't be participating in this year's tournament, the fact that there even is a tournament at all is something worth celebrating.

"It’s a big sense of relief knowing that we’ve made it this far and a sense of pride to know that we’ve fought through to make it this far has been great," said Morauski.