Fieldhouse, a staple of UD culture, under new ownership
The Fieldhouse, a campus bar along the Brown Street retail strip, has new owners including a past Flyer basketball star.
Maddy Bartsche
Contributing Writer
The Fieldhouse of Dayton is now under new ownership consisting of mostly University of Dayton alumni, including Flyer basketball star and NBA player Brian Roberts.
Speaking on the transfer in ownership Jonah Bettman, Fieldhouse’s general manager, said, “Basically it was a business decision. [The new owners] were looking to make a good investment, but also it’s nostalgic because this is the bar they went to. This is the bar where they met their spouses.”
Since Flyer Faithful LLC took over the bar, it has gone through renovations including the addition of new TVs and sanded, resurfaced floors to transition it into a hip sports bar for college students.
But, don’t worry, Fieldhouse favorites, including “fishbowls,” are still available. In fact, Fieldhouse has the fishbowls on tap.
Bettman ensured, “This is still the Fieldhouse. It was a decision not to change the name of the business because first of all, everyone knows the Fieldhouse. It’s the staple and we didn’t want to change it too much and turn it into a completely different bar.”
As part of the renovations and with coronavirus safety measures in mind, they added plexiglass barriers to separate the booths. There are also dividers that can be placed between groups that are seated at the bar. Everyone is expected to wear masks and stay six feet apart.
“We are on a college campus. We’re close by. UD is part of our culture and so we want to make sure we are catering to the young UD students and giving them an option of a place to be able to go to have a good time and be able to do it safely,” Bettman said.
Regarding new menu changes, Fieldhouse now has seltzer mojito bowls that come in eight or nine different flavors with fresh fruits. According to Betteman, the mojito bowls have been very popular.
Fieldhouse, working to continue their legacy as a place students love, is focusing on hard seltzer drinks. While alumni may remember the days where a twelve pack of beer was all you needed, today’s students are gravitating towards seltzer drinks such as White Claw and Truly. As part of their goal of creating an environment that caters to college students, Fieldhouse has Truly on tap and a fridge of twenty different types of seltzer drinks.
Another way the Fieldhouse strengthens its UD ties is by highlighting past Flyer athletes and community leaders.
“We are still in the process of getting the [Flyer sports] memorabilia back up on the walls. We definitely want to pay homage to the UD greats,” Bettman added.
When asked about his favorite parts of Fieldhouse, Bettman mentioned Trivia Tuesday Nights, Thursday Music Bingo, and the Wednesday Karaoke Nights.
Looking towards the future of Fieldhouse Betteman said, “In five years I would love to see our bar as a lot of folks’ favorite spot to go.”
Over the next five years, Fieldhouse would love to develop a kitchen to be able to serve food and put a porch in the back parking lot.
“Our goal is to make this the best bar that we can be and deliver the highest quality of service and customer satisfaction,” Betteman said.
“You guys want to be able to go out and have a good time and have some place be special. We are going for that special factor.”