Plan would add 12-screen sports center to Gurnee Mills movie theater

The top brass from Marcus Theaters this week pitched Gurnee leaders a plan to convert one of the 17 movie screens at Gurnee Mills into a sports viewing haven.

Under the plan, which was not up for a vote Monday night, auditorium 8 would be enhanced so it could show up to 12 games at a time.

Rob Novak, a vice president of Marcus Corp., said the plan is to add TVs as big as 105 inches to either sides of the screen and also have the projector display up to four games at once.

Admission to the sports theater would be free, but customers would need to buy concessions, Novak said

“We see this as a gathering place to go with friends and stay and have a meal,” Novak told the village board Monday. “It will be a communal experience.”

Auditorium 8 was among those renovated by Marcus in 2015 to add reclining seats. Novak said tables would be added for each seat if the plan were approved.

Novak said the Gurnee location would be the first of Marcus' 88 properties to have a sports theater. He said the company wanted to test the concept at one of its major locations near the corporate offices in Milwaukee.

Novak was introduced at the meeting by Marcus CEO Greg Marcus, whose grandfather started the company in 1935.

Novak and Marcus are asking the village board to modify the theater's liquor license to let servers bring food and alcohol directly to patrons' seats, add a portable bar to the sports theater during peak hours, and modify the restrictions on the size of drinks it can offer.

Mayor Thomas Hood said he'd discussed the changes with Police Chief Brian Smith and he didn't have any objections.

Similarly, village trustees did not lodge significant objections to the plan at the meeting.

Village Administrator Patrick Muetz said he and a village attorney would review the requested liquor license changes and bring the plan back to the board for a vote at a later meeting.