Boston Sports Bars

Best Boston bars to watch and cheer Boston sports teams

Where are the best Boston sports bars for being a Boston sports fan, enjoying a frosty Sam Adams beer, and watching your favorite Boston sports teams on the big screen? 

Jillian's Boston, Cask 'n' Flagon, and Boston Beer Works are just a few favorite Boston neighborhood bars where fans cheer the Boston Red Sox, Boston Bruins, Boston Celtics, and other Boston sports teams.

Predictably, most Boston sports bars cluster around Fenway Park and TD Garden ("the Gah-den" to locals).

One Boston sports bar in Fenway Park - yes, literally in Fenway Park, under the Green Monster - even gives you a direct field view.  Sure, you'll still wish you had Boston Red Sox tickets - but Bleacher Bar runs a close second.  And other Boston bars near Fenway provide plenty of hi def tvs for your viewing pleasure.

Several Boston sports bars can almost double as sports museums.  As you sip your Guinness or Sam Adams beer, you can examine walls covered with Boston Bruins memorabilia, old Boston baseball tickets, photos, Red Sox jerseys, and many more artifacts from Boston sports teams. 

Finally, you'll even find Boston sports bars where you can play some sports - bowling, billiards, ping pong, and more.  Being a Boston sports fan has never been so much fun!

Bleacher Bar - A Boston sports bar in Fenway Park!

Photo courtesy of Waldo Jaquith, © 2006, shared under the Creative Commons license

This is the Boston sports bar of your fantasies . . . right on the field at Fenway Park.  Yes, you'll sit right under the Green Monster at field level, looking straight across to home plate.  Is this even better than having Boston Red Sox tickets?

A garage door opens right onto the field, except for when a game is underway or the weather is cold.  Then, a glass window slides across so that you can still see the players but they can't see you. 

Sure, the place is kind of small and gets crowded if a game's on, but no matter . . . . you can enjoy your Sam Adams, nibble on some bar food, and cheer your favorite team.  A 45-minute limit on tables looking out at the field keeps spectators rotating.

Directions:  82 Lansdowne (enter through the service door), Fenway; Green Line/Kenmore
For more information:  617-262-2424; website

Boston Beer Works - Microbreweries Near Fenway Park and the Garden

Lots and lots of hi def TVs everywhere you look make this a great Boston sports bar . . . but it's also a micro-brewery and popular restaurant.  You can smell the malt in the air, and see the big beer-dispensing tanks right behind the counter. 

Boston Beer Works brews about 50 beers, ales, and lagers each year, with about a dozen or more on tap at any given time.  This is one place where you won't want to order Sam Adams beer - instead, go for the Boston Beer gourmet brews.

Best of all, you'll find 2 locations close to Boston's big sports venues - one right around the corner from Fenway Park for Boston Red Sox fans, and the other just down the street from Banknorth Garden for Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics fans.  The one near the Garden is the newest and biggest - plus, it has 15 billiards tables where you can shoot pool as well as enjoy patio seating in warm weather.  Both locations are kid-friendly.

Directions: 
    Fenway: 61 Brookline Ave, Fenway; Green Line/Kenmore
    Banknorth Garden:  112 Canal Street, West End; Green and Orange Lines/North Station
For more information:  617-896-2337; website

Champions Sports Bar at the Boston Copley Marriott in Back Bay

The award-winning Champions Sports Bar, located in the Copley Place shopping plaza at the Boston Copley Marriott Hotel in Back Bay, features lots of Boston sports memorabilia on the walls, 19 beers on tap, and many more bottled choices. 

With 2 big screens, and 32 high definition TVs, Champions shows local and national games.  You'll find both locals and Boston visitors here.  If you're visiting Boston and want to see your home town team in action, this is a good place to come.

Directions:  110 Huntington Avenue, Boston Copley Marriott, Back Bay
For more information:  617-236 5800

The Fours

The Fours is famous among Boston sports bars for being rated the #1 Sports Bar in America by Sports Illustrated.  Named after legendary Boston Bruins ice hockey player #4, Bobby Orr, The Fours also gets high marks for its food.

Stop by The Fours near Banknorth Garden, and you'll quickly discover that this popular bar has the biggest Boston sports memorabilia collection in the city displayed throughout its two floors.  Both kids and grownups enjoy finding items related to all their favorite Boston sports teams.

Unlike some of the Boston sports bars, which basically show just our local teams on their big screens, The Fours has Direct TV and satellite sports packages for all the major leagues.  You can even watch Boston college sports here - although you'll mostly find the place full of Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics fans.

If being a Boston sports fan is about how many games you can watch, The Fours is where you'll want to be.

Directions:  166 Canal Street; Green and Orange Lines/North Station
For more information:  617-720-4455; www.thefours.com

Jillian's

For those who like to play games while also watching them, Jillian's is the place to come. 

Although Jillian's size (huge!) and emphasis on entertainment sets it apart from more typical Boston sports bars, you'll find lots to drink and lots of sports to enjoy.

The big plasma screens - and you'll find plenty of them here - vie for attention with the bowling alley, 30+ pool tables, foosball, ping pong, and darts. 

And of course, you'll also find a number of bars and restaurants throughout the huge 3-floor entertainment complex just steps away from Fenway Park. 

Tequila Rain, a margarita-themed bar/restaurant, connects with Jillian's, and you'll find even more plasma screens at street-level.

Jillian's does tend to be pricey due to all of the entertainment options, so if you just want a beer and a big screen, you may prefer one of the more traditional Boston sports bars.

Although Jillian's is now part of a nation-wide chain of billiards-themed restaurants, Boston is where it all began back in 1988.

Minimum age after 8pm:  18+ Sunday - Thursday; 21+ Friday and Saturday
Directions to Jillian's:  145 Beacon Street, Fenway; Green Line/Kenmore
For more information:   617-437-0300; website

Kings - Bowling, Billiards, Big Screens, and Bar in Back Bay

Kings is another popular Boston sports bar with great beer, good food, and plenty of big screens - 6 projection screens and 25 hi def TVs. 

Kings shows MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA games, as well as college football and basketball.

As icing on the cake, you can also have a lot of fun here with bowling and billiards.

In fact, Kings is the official bowling alley for the Boston Red Sox, and members of the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics have also been spotted here creating their own version of celebrity bowling.

King's opens at 11:30am, except for Mondays, when it opens at 5pm (11am on Monday holidays), and it closes at 2am.  You can watch a lot of sports during that time span!

Located in fashionable Back Bay next to the Hynes Auditorium, Kings is a favorite spot for Boston kids activities during the day.  If you're visiting Boston with your family and you hit a bad-weather day, bring your children here to bowl while you reward yourself with something from the bar and watch some sports on the big screens. 

After 6pm, Kings is strictly 21+.

Direction to King's:  50 Dalton Street, Back Bay; Green Line/Hynes; 617-266-2695 ; website

McGreevy's 3rd Base Saloon - Where It All Began

Considered by many to be the original Boston sports bar, McGreevy's is also considered to be the first sports-themed bar in America. 

Opened in 1894, McGreevy's quickly became the favorite watering hole of local baseball players, fans, and politicians.  It's where Red Sox Nation began and flourished . . . until, alas, Prohibition closed it down along with every other neighborhood bar in the U.S.

Until two modern-day Red Sox fanatics gave it new life.  Now located in Back Bay not far from Fenway, McGreevy's is once again a super Boston sports bar.

More about McGreevy's.