Top Sports Bars in Miami for Game Day

From local haunts where the people are friendly and the prices are friendlier, to warehouse-sized hotspots lined with TVs, the sports bar scene in Greater Miami & Miami Beach has it all. 

Whether you’re looking in Brickell, Wynwood or South Beach, the destination is home to dozens of watering holes to choose from where you can hang out with fellow fans while enjoying specials on beer and chowing down on classic game-day grub. 

Here are our picks for the top Miami sports bars right now.

Sports & Social at Vivo!

There’s nothing subtle about Sports & Social, the mega sports bar atop Vivo!, the dining and entertainment district at Dolphin Mall in Sweetwater. 

Giant TVs tower over the bar, and during fight nights and big games, the place becomes a gathering place for local fans. The large, round booths are ideal for watching a game with a big group of friends. 

Even if there’s no game on, the scratch kitchen puts out some pretty solid dishes, making it an equally excellent choice for dinner.

Batch Gastropub

Batch Gastropub is the king of sports bars in Brickell. It has an ideal setup for watching sports: a central oblong bar crowned by TVs, with booths and long tables facing the action. It also boasts a big back room with a wall-sized screen and a breezy front patio to catch the action alfresco. 

The food is outstanding, with one of Miami’s best burgers and the hearty Mac Attack mac and cheese, and the beer menu is also excellent. Stop in on Mondays and enjoy all-you-can-eat boneless wings, which can go a long way during a four-hour football game.

Grails

Do you love collectible sneakers – so much so that you wouldn’t think twice about having a drink out of one? Stop in at Grails, a restaurant and sports bar in Wynwood where coveted kicks meet craft cocktails. 

The trademark drink is the Sneaker Cocktail, a fruity, sharable concoction served inside a ceramic shoe. Grails has a long list of other inventive sports-themed libations, like the Pistachio Martini and the Peanut Butter Old Fashioned. 

Rare and classic shoes line the walls, making Grails sort of like a museum for sneaker heads. Once you’ve gawked at the collection,  you can enjoy the games out on the spacious patio.

Mickey Burkes

If you’re looking for a sports bar in South Beach, Mickey Burkes is the spot. Named after a legendary figure in South Beach nightlife, Mickey Burke’s  is popular with early morning soccer and rugby crowds. 

The extensive beer selection ranges from a custom Irish red ale from Prison Pals to European imports and local craft brews. And the food menu is long on inventive, snackable stuff, like short rib poutine and Korean bonchon cauliflower. It’s part Irish pub, part sports bar and brings together one of the most diverse crowds you’ll ever see for sports.

Old Tom’s Sports Bar

Miami Springs is one of the most unique places in Miami, once a colony of Eastern Airlines and Pan Am pilots and their families that’s now a little slice of small-town America just north of Miami International Airport. 

Old Tom’s Sports Bar is the town’s local bar, putting out high-quality bar food and ice-cold beer for regulars who’ve been coming in for decades. On NFL Sundays, it’s a gathering place for Miami Springs and the surrounding area, a consensus pick for the best spot to watch all the games.

The Brightside

Cruising along Coral Way between The Roads and Coral Gables, you might miss The Brightside. That is, unless there’s a big game going on. Then, the excitement pours out the front door with banners on the windows and cheers erupting from inside. 

The Brightside has become the neighborhood’s go-to for big events, making its name as the bar of choice to watch the Florida Panthers’ Stanley Cup runs over the past two years. The Midwest couple who run the place make it feel homey and welcoming, and the wings and beef on weck sandwiches are must-haves.  

Black Market Miami

In the 1970s and ’80s, Miami was the football capital of America, when the Dolphins ruled the NFL and the University of Miami Hurricanes dominated for a decade. You can relive those glory days inside Black Market Miami, a Downtown Miami sports bar wallpapered in photos and newspaper clippings from the era. 

It also puts out some of the best wings in Miami, which, when combined with an extensive menu of original cocktails, make Black Market a go-to for college football Saturdays and NFL Sundays.

American Social Bar & Kitchen

American Social Bar & Kitchen in Brickell offers a serene setting for watching sports along the Miami River. Enjoy a game while a warm breeze drifts through the outside patio and boats cruise past the Downtown Miami and Brickell high-rises. 

AmSo, as it’s locally known, is a hangout for Florida State University alums on game days and a popular place for college sports on other nights. 

The menu offers next-level bar food too, with intriguing stuff like steak fried rice, hot honey pizza and ancho chicken quesadillas. 

Sandbar Sports Grill

Set at the epicenter of Coconut Grove on Grand Avenue and Main Highway, Sandbar Sports Grill has been a landmark for University of Miami students and Grove locals for over 25 years. 

The food is pure SoCal surf stuff, with fish tacos, guacamole and fajitas pairing perfectly with Sandbar’s selection of cold beers. You can stay inside and watch the game amid the bar’s beach motif or head out to the patio and enjoy some first-rate people-watching during commercial breaks. 

You can also try one of Sandbar’s famous Hurricanes, served from category 1 to 5 (meaning how much rum is in it), depending on how bold you’re feeling.

Flanigan’s

The welcoming green lights and familial wood-paneled walls have made Flanigan’s a local institution. With locations from Kendall to North Miami, this fishing-themed bar has become a second home for generations of Miamians, drawn by its famous garlic knots, rib rolls and flame-broiled hamburgers. 

Its original location in Coconut Grove is always packed and a perfect place to catch a game surrounded by HEAT, Dolphins and Panthers fans. Be sure to get a soda in one of Flanigan’s iconic green cups, a Miami souvenir that announces you saw the city like a local.

Duffy’s Sports Grill

Set along the Intracoastal Waterway, Duffy’s Sports Grill in North Miami Beach is the best sports bar in Miami to arrive at by boat. Even if you’re not mixing game days and boat days, Duffy’s is a relaxing place to watch a game, putting you in a Miami frame of mind from the minute you step out onto its patio. The multi-location restaurant and sports bar offers one of the best rewards programs, too, and if you make a point of being a regular, you’ll earn free food after only a couple of visits.

Sports Grill

Though debate may rage among locals as to who has Miami’s best wings, one spot that you’ll always hear mentioned is Sports Grill. The local legend has 7 locations around Miami-Dade, from Palmetto Bay to Miami Lakes. The interior is simple: wood seats, lots of TVs and loads of hungry locals. But the wings menu is far more intricate, and whatever wing sauce you choose, it’s hard to go wrong.

Kings Dining & Entertainment

Enjoy the throwback fun of a retro, midcentury-themed bowling alley with plenty of TVs and a big menu of gourmet bar bites at Kings Dining & Entertainment in Doral. Each lane has its own private television, so you can watch your game of choice while waiting your turn to bowl. 

King’s also has a separate bar and restaurant area, so even if you’re not up for bowling, you can still kick back in an oversized booth and take in the action. The menu includes a long selection of bar classics, from wings to hot chicken pizza and steakhouse burgers.