Let It Fly Opens New Flagship Location in Omaha, Nebraska

June 20, 2023
Interior Design Commercial

The elevated sports bar, designed by RDG, offers a one-of-a-kind experience for sports fans.

Let It Fly Sports Bar officially cut the ribbon on its newest location on Thursday, June 15, 2023, in time to introduce the nearly 300,000 visitors arriving for the NCAA College World Series. Designed in collaboration with RDG Planning & Design, Let It Fly’s Omaha, Nebraska location offers sports fans a one-of-a-kind experience and now serves as the new flagship location for its other restaurants in Germantown, Tennessee and Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Set amid plush booths and more than 80 televisions, the space recalls a high-end restaurant while maintaining the sense of accessibility and fun of a neighborhood sports bar.

“With this new high-end design, we’re setting the tone for Let It Fly moving forward,” said Let It Fly CEO Al Lopez. “We are recreating and elevating all aspects of the sports bar dining experience to include food, drink hospitality and of course sports. We have assembled a championship Omaha team to make this our premier location, and after a year of preparation, we are excited to see it come to life.”

From left: Let It Fly CEO Al Lopez cuts the ribbon surrounded by Mike Miller, Doug McDermott, Greg McDermott and Jesse Moore.

Situated in the heart of Omaha’s Capitol District, Let It Fly’s goal with the space was to raise the sports-dining bar. The restaurant’s unique brand of hospitality, food, drink and sports is reflected in RDG’s design, which counterbalances a rich navy and antique brass color palette with rustic textured leathers, exposed steel and polished concrete floors to create an elevated space that feels both ultra-modern and highly accessible. To emphasize Let It Fly’s connection to local sports, RDG partnered with a sports branding and graphics company to create installations and graphic collages for the bar that highlight local sporting legends and locations. Lighting within the space can be customized to reflect the colors of whichever local team is on the big screen, further reinforcing the bar’s affinity with local Omaha sports.

“We set out to design a space that would reflect Let It Fly’s mission to ‘create diehard fans by delivering the very best food, drink service and sports,’” said RDG Interior Designer, Gina Lorkovic, NCIDQ. “Following in-depth planning and programming sessions, our team developed a solution that emphasizes the bar’s connection to local sports and offers fans one-of-a-kind, premium dining and sports-viewing experiences.”

RDG’s design accommodates a 48-foot LED screen above a 40-foot main bar, two outdoor patios, private guest lockers for fine wines and spirits and a retail shop on the main level. The mezzanine includes a 30-foot premium bar, flex dining space for semi-private events, sports-viewing cocktail rail and DJ’s corner. In addition to the 400-seat restaurant space, the design incorporates a state-of-the-art studio where hosts can record the Let It Fly podcast; when not in use for recording the glass-enclosed space can transform into a private dining area, offering up to eight guests an intimate dining experience.

Written by Erin Van Zee, Communications Director