Hoops is New York’s first topless sports bar

It took a year to plan, but it’s an idea that certain sports fan will enthusiastically embrace: a topless sports bar.

Hoops Cabaret is billing itself as New York’s first topless sports bar. It will swing open its doors Friday on West 33rd Street—within shouting distance of Madison Square Garden where the Knicks and the Rangers call home—and right next to Rick’s Cabaret, the “gentlemen’s club” owned and operated by the same group.

“We have our traditional gentleman’s club, we have a more high-end nightclub, so we needed something a little bit different without taking away from any of them,” RCI Regional Manager Shaun Kevlin told Metro.

The busiest nights for strip clubs are traditionally Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the business crowd, Kevlin said. But on big sports nights, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the crowd really thins out.

“Some strip clubs are even closed on Sundays,” he said.

Their sports-boobs hybrid concept already seems to be working: During Hoops’soft-opening on Sunday at least 150 people came through the door who “were just walking by and were like wow this is perfect!” Kevlin said.

Hoops will have as many as 50 or 60 dancers on any night of the week clad in skimpy versions of uniforms from New York teams.

Guests will be able to root for their favorite teams and ta tas in a lounge designed to look like a basketball court, with TVs facing the center stage that is an elevated platform made to look like a giant basketball hoop. On the second floor the club provides semi-private VIP rooms as well as their ultra-VIP “man cave” area, equipped with private stages and three 90-inch TVs. The man cave will be available for approximately $1,500 for an afternoon of food and liquor.

Kevlin promises that all major games going on at any time will be on at least one of their 55 TVs. What’s better are the $6 draft beers and $8 cocktails before 8 p.m. every day. Also on the menu: Kobe beef hot dogs ($14) and other gourmet bar food.

“It seems like there are certain guys who are just focused on the games, and certain guys just focused on the dancers, so it’s turning out to be a good balance,” he said.