Grandpa Eddie's Alabama Ribs & BBQ was recently spolighted in a story about how football season positively impacts Richmond-area businesses. The article is below and can be found on Richmond.com.

Richmond, Va. -- From hosting tailgate parties to hosting fantasy drafts, football is good for business at bars and restaurants catering to those who love all things pigskin.

"Football is huge. It drives the sports engine," said Al Coleman, owner of Big Al's Sports Bar & Grill in western Henrico County and host of Sports Phone with Big Al on ESPN 950.

Like many restaurant and bar owners in the area and across the country, Coleman said football brings in a steady stream of customers looking for the camaraderie and to catch a game.

"It's the high tide," Garland Taylor, co-owner of The Home Team Grill, said of football season.

The NFL season officially kicks off tonight, but it lasts from the start of preseason in mid-August to early February when the Super Bowl is played. During those months, game day becomes the busiest time of the week that restaurant and bar owners, like Taylor and Coleman, count on to help boost coffers.

It's not only professional football that draws crowds. College football pack in patrons as well.

Carey Friedman, owner of Grandpa Eddie's Alabama Ribs & BBQ on Three Chopt Road in Henrico, turns his restaurant and bar into the official home of the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturdays during football season.

The University of Georgia fans bring "us a lot of business," said Friedman, an alumni of the school. So much traffic, in fact, that he has run out of beer a couple of times.

While Grandpa Eddie's big draw is Georgia football, customers come in throughout the weekend to watch college and pro games.

Friedman says he keeps customers coming back with game-time happy hours and food specials.

At Big Al's, for the first time, the restaurant is throwing tailgate parties every Sunday -- and tonight -- with food and drink specials to keep diners and drinkers watching the games.

As big as real games are, fantasy football is increasingly becoming a big driver for restaurants and bars. Some chains have begun promotions to score with dedicated players of the growing pastime.

Free appetizers, draft kits, meal discounts, gift cards and contests featuring sports celebrities are among lures for "draft parties" in which fantasy players select rosters of NFL players whose talents on the field equal imaginary glory, and often cash, for their fantasy coaches.

Several national chains are jumping on the bandwagon, including Dave & Buster's, which has a location in the West Broad Village, and Buffalo Wild Wings, which has several area locations.

The chains don't release how much revenue those customers bring in, but they are trying hard to win over the roughly 20 million people in fantasy leagues, which test fans' abilities to pick out players who will be the most productive.

The Fantasy Sports Trade Association says the number of fantasy players has been growing at double-digit rates each year.

"There's a huge number of people who get into fantasy football, and there's a lot of restaurants trying to get them," said Bob Goldin at Chicago-based food consultancy Technomic Inc.

Home Team Grill's Taylor started hosting fantasy draft parties about three years ago. Fantasy leagues are given a private space, Wi-Fi, food and a dedicated monitor to track the draft. Home Team Grill has two area locations.

"The response has been generally good," he said.

The goal, Taylor said, is to hook them to the restaurant and then get them to come back on game day.