Downtown Columbia bars increase security ahead of Mizzou home opener
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
In less than 24 hours, Memorial Stadium will be jam-packed with black and gold, as the Tigers kick off the 2025-26 season against Central Arkansas.
Downtown is never a scarce scene in Columbia on game days, but with many students left unable to claim tickets after Mizzou Athletics rolled out a new claims process, some think downtown on Thursday could draw even larger crowds.
“We’ve already expected for people to be coming to the bar more, just seeing how quickly they’re sold out,” Assistant General Manager at Harpos Ben Yanak said. “It’s something where for this first game, we’ll just kind of have to go with the flow and just prepare for the future.”
Yanak said the bar can sometimes see 5,000 people come through its doors at night. The bar has recently implemented extra safety precautions, working to ensure people are safe.
“We’ve been in contact with getting some private security for roaming around outside, making sure that all of our customers and everyone on the street is safe,” Yanak said.
Yanak said the bar implemented the outside security at the end of the previous semester. The security works by patrolling the nearby streets and back alleys near the bar. He said it’s something they’re now heavily focused on and are working to collaborate with other businesses downtown on the effort.
People heading into the bar can also expect to be checked with hand-held metal detectors, something the bar has done in previous years as well. The bar also has roughly 70 security personnel working on game days, according to Yanak.
Down the street, MyHouse Sports Bar and Nightclub sits as the official watch party for Mizzou Athletics.
The large crowds don’t come as a surprise to employees, but the bar has also ramped up security heading into the new year and football season.
“As a constantly expanding bar and brand name, we always want to provide the best experience we can to our customers, ” Assistant General Manager for MyHouse Sports Bar and Nightclub Cooper Bridgess said. “We did go out and hire a decent amount more of door guys and whatever positional stuff we needed.”
Bridges said the increased security is to have more faces around the bar. MyHouse will also continue with its practice of using a hand-held metal detector that pats people down when entering the bar to ensure they aren’t bringing in weapons.
Adam Mordica is one of the owners of 9th bar downtown. He said half of the battle of dealing with busy crowds on game day is mental.
“Obviously, all hands on deck. Keep your head on a swivel. We also do our best to keep the atmosphere the way we want it,” Mordica said.
Caroline Ordway is a second-year master’s student at the University of Missouri. Ordway thinks the city of Columbia has done a good job keeping people safe in the downtown area, and is thankful for the changes bars have implemented.
“I remember being here in undergrad and I feel like you could just walk in and out. Purses are checked, people are wanded, I think they’re making definite improvements,” Ordway said.