Signs of the World Cup were everywhere at Habana Outpost in Brooklyn on Wednesday: the country flags cross-crossing the patio, the soccer balls hanging from the ceiling.
But, for the first time in nearly a month, no soccer games were on any of the bar’s television or projector screens all day. After 96 games over 27 days — sometimes six in a single day — the World Cup took a break on Wednesday, giving a rest to teams, fans and exhausted workers at bars and restaurants.
“It’s a sigh of relief,” said Sadie Fein, 21, a bartender at Habana Outpost. “It’s like, OK, maybe I’m going to be a little bored, just because the difference is so crazy.”
Across New York City, bars, restaurants and their staff have been hosting formal and informal World Cup watch parties daily since June 11, drawing crowds of soccer-obsessed fans. The crush of soccer games overlapped with the citywide frenzy over the Knicks’ run to the N.B.A. title, leaving hospitality workers with little time to catch their breaths.
Habana Outpost, in the Fort Greene neighborhood, has been serving nearly 1,500 orders a night, compared to its usual summer high of about 1,000, Ms. Fein said. Though the excitement and energy makes her job fun, Ms. Fein said lately she’s been spending more time in bed before her shifts to avoid burning out.
It’s not just serving overcrowded tables and running food through dense crowds; it’s constantly restocking ice, changing the kegs more frequently and throwing out extra-heavy bags of trash.
“It’s physically tolling on my body, because we have to stock everything up like five times the amount we normally would,” Ms. Fein, 21, said. Still, the games have been good for business and for anyone making tips, she said.
After weeks of cacophonous cheers, gasps, “Gooools” and chants at FancyFree, a sports bar in Fort Greene, on Wednesday it was just Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar and Sza playing over the speakers, with Wimbledon tennis on mute across the venue’s seven television screens and its projector.
With just a few people sitting at the bar and only one table, the stillness stood out to Ben Callan, a bartender who traveled from Ireland about two months ago to work at the bar during the World Cup. During Saturday’s games, Mr. Callan logged nearly 19,000 steps, according to an app on his phone.
“I came over here for the madness,” Mr. Callan, 23, said, adding he had been working six days a week.
At the other end of the bar, Dejae Doakes, another employee, said she had been trying to “lean into the calm” of Wednesday’s reprieve, particularly after the frenetic transition from the Knicks’ run to the World Cup.
“It felt like working with the ‘check engine’ light on,” Ms. Doakes, 30, said.
Ben Fiévet, a waiter at FancyFree and soccer fan, said while days have been exhilarating, Wednesday was a “big sigh of relief.” The England-Mexico game on Sunday night resulted in about 500 orders, about double the amount of a typical night, he said.
“It hits us at the end of the night, like ‘Oh my god, that was a tough day after another tough day,’” said Mr. Fiévet, 33.
The beers have kept flowing at The Commissioner in Park Slope, where the World Cup has made a Tuesday look like a Friday, according to Brendan Byrnes, one of the owners. Sales at both the bar’s Park Slope and Manhattan locations were up by about 30 percent compared with June 2025, Mr. Byrnes said.
But it has taken its toll. The World Cup schedule meant earlier opening hours, leaving less time for a staff that was already stretched thin to rest or to handle administrative work.
The bar has also faced maintenance issues, with refrigerators malfunctioning, beer pouring foamy after a condenser failed and even the bell they ring for goals falling flat.
“The bar felt the weight, too, and was breaking down in the same way the staff was breaking down and exhausted,” Mr. Byrnes, 42, said.
Wednesday finally offered some breathing room, and the bar opened for its normal hours and even hosted its regular weekly trivia night, which had been canceled several times over the last few weeks, Mr. Byrnes said.
At Brooklyn Public House, Nick Killian, a bartender, said it’s mostly been business as usual with their regular customers. But the World Cup has offered a higher predictability for when to expect crowds.
Mr. Killian, who plays soccer in leagues around the city, said he was slightly relieved for the pause on Wednesday but also sad because of how much the World Cup has been.
“It’s been electric,” Mr. Killian, 28, said. “Wonder what it will be like when it’s over.”
Brian Wagner, 40, a bartender at Threes Brewing in Gowanus said the past few weeks had been like living in a never-ending festival season.
With the longer days, he said, he’s made sure to pregame the right way: getting plenty of sleep, and staying hydrated and nourished.
But, he added, the last few weeks had been a singular experience. “This will never happen again,” he said “The hometown will never break a 50-plus year drought, while a few weeks later that same city hosts multiple World Cup matches.”
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