South Bend businesses benefit from extra traffic

Sports fans will be seeing black and red and blue and gold with both the Hawks and the Irish in town this weekend.

Thousands of visitors are expected to pour into the area around Notre Dame’s campus over the next three days.

Compton Family Ice Arena and Notre Dame Football Stadium are separated by a parking lot and on Saturday that parking lot will be packed with thousands of tailgating fans.

It’s a rare weekend for fans of both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Fighting Irish.

Fans lucky enough to have tickets to both events will get to see both teams play within hours of each other

And when they’re not checking out the Hawk’s first practice as Stanley Cup champions, or cheering for the Irish, bar owners tell say they’re likely going to be spending some cash eating and drinking here in town.

“We love the Blackhawks, go Hawks and just keep it coming. South Bend does a great job with organized chaos that’s what I call it. It’s a huge impact to our community and we do a great job handling it so yes we do great,” says Sue Mulligan, owner of Mulligan’s Bar and Grill.