Las Vegas treats sports the way it treats everything else: bigger, louder, and open earlier. Blondies, in the middle of the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood, opens at 7am daily because a 10am East Coast kickoff is a 7am Vegas problem.
The address is 3663 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Suite 360, deep inside the Miracle Mile loop. Finding it is part of the experience; follow the noise. Once inside, the proposition is simple: 35 plasma and big-screen TVs, long communal tables, beer pong in the back, and servers who keep pace with a full NFL Sunday board.
The famous number here is $20. That buys all-you-can-drink domestic drafts and well drinks during happy hour, which runs 3pm to 6pm Monday through Friday, a deal the bar has kept on the menu while most of the Strip moved to $25 cocktails. During football season the bar sells game-day drink packages on the same logic. Vegas.com lists Blondies among the Strip's essential sports bars largely on the strength of that value.
The room makes no apologies. Cheerleader-style uniforms, bachelor parties, fishbowl drinks, and every game on simultaneously. It is the opposite of a sportsbook lounge where the wagering is the point; nobody at Blondies is studying a betting sheet. For that other mood, the sportsbook at Circa downtown runs the largest screen in the city, and our Las Vegas sports bars guide sorts the Strip by intent.
What to order: the $20 happy hour bucket logic says domestic drafts. Otherwise, draft pints run $7 to $9, wings and burgers sit in the mid teens, and the kitchen serves breakfast from open. The bloody mary at 7am on an NFL Sunday is a Las Vegas institution in its own right.
Who is it for? Groups, game-day tourists staying mid-Strip, and anyone who wants maximum screens per dollar without leaving Planet Hollywood. It is not a first-date bar and would be insulted if you called it one; our Las Vegas bar guide has the city's quieter rooms when you need the antidote.
Best time to go: NFL and college football Saturdays and Sundays from 7am, when the energy peaks, or weekday happy hour for the $20 deal without the crowd. Fight nights and March basketball weekends fill every seat by mid-morning, so arrive at open. Blondies holds the number 4 spot on our worldwide best sports bars ranking.
