Published November 3, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | AROUND NEWPORT | NOVEMBER 3, 2026
Newport’s weather gets people here. Football season tells you what they brought with them.
On a Sunday around the peninsula, one bar can sound like Buffalo, New Orleans, Las Vegas and Los Angeles all at once. This town’s got plenty of transplants, and a lot of them never switched teams just because they moved somewhere with better sunsets.
Cruisers is the clearest example of Newport’s game-day melting pot. It hosts Bills at the Beach, the local Bills Backers watch party, and its own site welcomes Packers and Bears fans, too. College fans have planted flags there as well: Ohio State and Arizona State alumni groups list Cruisers as a watch-party spot. That’s a lot of loyalties under one roof. The TVs may be divided by room, but the arguments can travel.
Then there’s the neighborhood map locals already know. Class of ’47 is a Saints bar. Cassidy’s is Raiders country. Cabo Cantina has become a Rams bar, and Stag has a Rams crowd of its own. Baja Sharkeez draws Indiana fans, while Malarky’s has hosted Notre Dame and Michigan State gatherings. Over at Avila’s El Ranchito, Colorado Buffaloes fans have an official alumni game-watch home.
That’s the fun of it: Newport isn’t one hometown or one team. People came from somewhere else, kept the old colors, and found a bar where somebody else knows the fight song. The college crowd adds another layer, because apparently one football season wasn’t enough for us.
Some places are dedicated fan headquarters; others host alumni watch parties or simply give fans enough screens to find their game. Either way, there’s room for a lot of teams around here. And when the final whistle blows, everybody walks back into the same Newport weather. The score changes. The forecast mostly doesn’t.
Sources: Bills at the Beach / Cruisers; Cruisers team and alumni information; Ohio State alumni watch locations; ASU alumni watch party at Cruisers; Los Angeles Times college football bar guide; University of Colorado alumni game watches; Notre Dame Club of Orange County watch at Malarky’s; Visit Newport Beach: Stag and Rams fans.
Help us out, Newport.
Read next
Around NewportNewport High School Students Can Take College Classes for Free This SpringHere's something Newport families might actually want to get ahead of: local high school students can take college classes this spring without paying tuition.Read story →Suggestion 1 of 5
Around NewportThe Newport Dive Bar Hall of Fame: No Reservations NecessaryNewport Beach has plenty of places where dinner comes with a dress code, a reservation, and the quiet feeling your table might cost more than your first car. The peninsula…Read story →Suggestion 2 of 5
Around NewportThe Great Balboa Island Frozen Banana FeudNewport Beach has never needed much encouragement to argue. Parking. Property lines. How many boats belong in one harbor. But one of its oldest disagreements involves a banana on a…Read story →Suggestion 3 of 5
Around NewportNewport Beach’s Elizabeth Lyn Vargas: From Television Personality to Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and Community AdvocateAn established Newport Beach personality and familiar face from Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County, Elizabeth Lyn Vargas is combining her passion for community, technology, philanthropy, and entrepreneurship to…Read story →Suggestion 4 of 5
City Hall WatchNewport’s City Council Has a Lot of Friends With Checkbooks. Here’s the Money Trail.The Balboa Local follows Newport's 2026 council election money through developer committees, the county party, police and firefighters PACs, and Alliance for Prosperity.Read story →Suggestion 5 of 5