Maize and blue may power Ann Arbor’s economy during the University of Michigan’s home football games, but this Saturday’s matchup with Michigan State University is all about green for local businesses.

“Michigan fans are unbelievably excited,” M-Den owner Dave Hirth said. “That kind of momentum when you’re in the retail business is precious.”

And while football Saturdays always mean big business - an estimated $10 million per home football weekend, according to a U-M study - many local retailers and service providers are bracing for more green than usual from their sales.

“There’s no disputing that Saturday is the biggest game that’s happened in this area in a long, long time,” Hirth said.

Like the M Den, the Blue Front party store on South State at Packard is busy every football weekend. But this weekend already feels different, said Sunny Bhagat.

“People are very, very excited,” he said.

Students, after all, do like to party hearty - especially when the visitor’s Sparty.

One of Bhagat’s measures of the business increase is keg orders.

“It’s almost more than double,” he said.

By game day, he said, the store will be filled with shoppers, many of them looking for a gametime staple: Beer.

They’ll also be dressed for the part.

“Many will be dressed up with Michigan logos, or singing and dancing,” he said.

Things may be a little more low-key on Main Street, where bars and restaurants also expect solid crowds on both Friday and Saturday.

The 3:30 p.m. game start makes it a little more difficult to sell-out dinner reservations, since - with some pundits predicting a 1-point game and most dropping the spread to less than 5 points - fans are likely to be glued to their seats in the Big House.

Maura Thompson of the Main Street Area Association said downtown restaurants were starting to report early in the week that reservations were booking up.

Joey Xuereb, manager and events coordinator at Vinology, is looking for a late crowd.

“We’ve got our steady business and then some coming in after the game that night,” he predicts.

But he’s also found a way to make up for slower-than-usual business earlier in the dinner hour, which starts there at 4 p.m. It’s a special tailgate party for a private client who will host 80 friends in the restaurant before the game.

At Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub, staff is preparing to sell more beer (skewing heavily toward domestic brands) and more food to more customers than a normal football Saturday.

“But we’re not really preparing anything extravagant,” manager Eric Bodley said.

Staff doesn’t expect a line when the doors open at 11, “but we usually fill up pretty quickly on game days,” he said.

Ann Arbor’s hotels used to fill up on game days, but even drawing the biggest crowd in college football - this year, stadium capacity is 109,901 - wasn’t enough in 2009 to fill Washtenaw County’s 4,000 hotel rooms for every game. Many were stunned when even the Ohio State University matchup happened in November without a hotel sellout.

But this year’s MSU game is enough to turn the tide, said Mary Kerr of the Ann Arbor Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“We consider it essentially sold out,” Kerr said about local lodging options for Friday and Saturday nights.

There are a few rooms still available in a handful of hotels- that’s the “essentially” part - but no blocks of rooms, and the already limited availability should shrink by the day until Saturday.

Weber’s Inn on the west side of Ann Arbor is one of the hotels that sold out. Its restaurant also will stay busy through three meals - breakfast, lunch and the late post-game dinner.

“We have many, many loyal, long-term guests that come year after year,” said John Staples, manager. “Even thought the team has had its challenges, the fans who stay with us come pretty much regardless of (the win-loss record).”

But heading into a game where the rivals are both 5-0 ratchets up the interest, Staples said. And with Weber’s attracting both U-M and MSU fans, that could make things interesting in the lobby.

Zingerman’s is another local business that does well during home games but doesn’t expect a windfall from the MSU game. A football Saturday typically increases revenue by about 15 percent, said Rick Strutz, a partner in the deli.

Part of the increase in sales comes from catering sales. Others are retail in the iconic deli on Detroit Street.

The 3:30 start time will help, he added. And if the weather is mild, sales will be all the better for it.

“There’s not a lot of time between 7 a.m. and noon for people to spend money,” Stutz said. “… When it’s a 3:30 game, you get a lot more people doing shopping before the game.”

But Denard Robinson fans won’t find a surprise special on the menu listed under number 16 this week. The former number 16 - Albert’s Double Play, featuring ham, Swiss cheese and Dijon on baked house rye - has been retired, and the deli is hesitant to recycle its menu numbers. Yet.

“We’ve definitely had conversations about the number 16,” Stutz said.

Another small business indicator of what this MSU game means to the region is Benny’s Bakery in Saline.

The store’s pretzels are legendary among tailgaters, who line up starting at 5:30 a.m. on football Saturdays to buy them by the dozen.

A typical game means owner Steve Babiak will make about 400 dozen.

This weekend, said his father-in-law, Dave Bowbeer, “it’ll be 600 dozen out the door.”

And customers also have been wearing their favorite school’s colors, he added.

The M Den recently regained its apparel contract with U-M, and will have 10 temporary locations around the stadium on Saturday, Hirth said. It also has permanent locations downtown and in Briarwood.

“We will be very, very busy,” Hirth said. Part of that is because of the “maize-out,” when fans are asked to wear their yellow apparel in a show of support.

He’s hoping that enthusiasm lasts after the game, too.

“We hope people charge out of that stadium after the game, cheering the victors,” said Hirth said, whose stores don’t carry even a hint of green and white.

Traditionalists in the hunt for U-M apparel may be shocked by the “Game Bibs” hanging in the window of the Underground Printing store on South Main Street. The maize and blue overalls sell for $49.95, and store co-owner Ryan Gregg says he knows they’re not for everyone.

But the pent-up demand for a winning U-M team is fueling sales at his business, too. His company, which bought Moe Sports Shop this year, also manufactures licensed apparel from a facility on Jackson Road in Scio Township.

He’s used the time since both teams won last Saturday to stock his stores with new merchandise.

Top of the list: #16 jerseys. The Adidas replica sells for $59.95.

“We’ve sold out of that 2 different times this year,” he said. “… We just sent a few hundred (more) to the stores.”

Gregg says he’s watching the momentum build and knows it’ll get more intense by kickoff. Sales, he believe, will climb along with it.

“The game this weekend,” he said, “is huge.”

Paula Gardner is Business News Director of AnnArbor.com. Contact her at 734-623-2586 or by email

Read a pdf version of a 2007 economic impact study of Big Ten football games in Michigan here: AEG_Big10_Football_FINAL.pdf