Owners Seek Redemption for Sports Bar

 by Carl Glassman

It was late afternoon and the after-work crowd was beginning to file into 99 Hudson Street, aka the Sporting Club. Music blared, pool balls clacked, and all 47 televisions were silently aglow.
 
Stephen Rogers, left, and Larry Furtzaig, owners of a Hudson Street sports bar. Photo by Carl Glassman

The new owners, Larry Furtzaig and Stephen Rogers, were showing a visitor around the place—the control center for the TVs, the shiny kitchen, the quieter upstairs dining room. But what Rogers and Furtzaig seemed most proud to demonstate was what—or who—was not there.

Paul Bovi.

Bovi had bought the 19-year-old Sporting Club in June, 2002, but said he couldn’t make a go of it on sports alone. This year he began renting out the place to promoters whose crowds shattered late-night summer nights with with fights, screams and blasting radios.

Nearby residents complained bitterly and called the police constantly.

The new owners claim that even they were scared to go there.

“It was a forbidding mix of clientele, and there was tension in the place,” said Furtzaig, who describes himself as a non-practicing lawyer. “It was almost palpable.”

“Bovi was letting in any promoter who wanted to come in,” said Rogers, a restaurateur who said he has owned 30 eateries over the past 20 years. “He was almost handing them the keys.”

Bovi, a sports afficionado in the financial services industry (that’s all he’ll say) remains a part owner. But all three men insist that he is hands-off, with the exception of setting the mix of games on the club’s ubiquitous tvs.

“I went out of my way to accommodate the needs of the community, to have two professional people who are going to be there all the time,” said Bovi, who blames the club’s problems on his own absence of oversight.
Under their stewardship, the owners say, they have been marketing to alumni groups and other new clientele.

Although they are still encouraging special events, the new owners say that they, not promoters, are in control of the premises.

Is it making a difference?

Last month, not long after taking over the club, Rogers and Furtzaig appeared before Community Board 1’s Tribeca Committee, seeking its advisory approval for a transfer of the liquor license to them from Bovi. Several neighbors were there to voice their complaints about the bar, citing one particular incident at a VH1 party in which a woman was ejected from the club screaming wildly.

The owners said the incident proved that they were in charge. But it did not help their case when it was revealed that the event was in honor of rapper D.O.B. (“Dirty Old Bastard”) and his recent release from jail.

The board called for a hearing on the liquor license transfer before the State Liquor Authority.

In the meantime, some nearby residents continue to complain about occasional late-night noise, while acknowledging that the owners appear to be trying to be good neighbors.

Last month the owners met with about 15 local residents next door at Socrates restaurant. But some came away feeling doubtful. As long as there are late-night events and drunken partygoers, they said, there will continue to be sleepless nights.

“I’m sure they want to make it work,” said Jan Jaffe of 90 Hudson St., “but it’s not going to work unless it’s quiet.”