Riley’s wins the best college bar competition

>> Riley’s Bar and Grill in Chico won the Barstool Sports Best College Bar in America on Friday, taking down the backtoback champions Sup Dogs, a bar representing students from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina.

Riley’s won in a bracketstyle competition in which Twitter users tweeted for the bar of their choice, in this case using #BestBarRileys.

Named the the best bar in the country in the Barstool Sports Best College Bar tournament which featured 128 bars nationwide, Riley’s receives $10,000 with the victory. Voting for the tournament ended at 5 p.m. Friday, when shortly thereafter customers at Riley’s celebrated.

Riley’s entered as the No. 1 seed in the west portion of the bracket, which was separated into a northeast, south, midwest and western sections. Rileys won its matchup with Suds Tavern from Boise State in the first round before defeating Colorado State’s Lucky Joe’s in round No. 2. In the third round Riley’s defeated Joe Black’s from the University of North Dakota, before unseating the No. 1 seed from the midwest, Brick Street from Miami, Ohio in the semifinals and Sup Dogs in the finals.

Members of the Chico community joined in supporting Rileys, including Green Bay Packers’ quarterback and Pleasant Valley alumnus Aaron Rodgers. Fellow National Football League star punter for the Indianapolis Colts and Hamilton High School graduate Rigoberto Sanchez joined Rodgers in supporting Riley’s.

Riley’s even received support from celebrities with no local Chico ties, including comedian Bert Kreischer and celebrity chef Guy Fieri.

Riley’s Bar and Grill was opened in 1986 by Kevin Riley and Nick Andrew. According to the Riley’s website, Riley’s was the first bar to offer Jagermeister to its customers in 1987, before being the first bar to offer Sierra Nevada on draft to customers in 1988.

Riley’s co- owner Kevin Riley took to Twitter to thank the Chico community on Saturday.