Football fans ready to wing it on Super Bowl Sunday, study finds

Is a hot wing the true prize? Chicken Wings are the top food choice when it comes to the Super Bowl. According to estimates, Americans will eat approximately 1.4 billion wings during this year’s big game.

Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, will be a busy man on Super Bowl Sunday. But what if Reid, or 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, instead consumed snacks like everyone else watching the game?

“If Andy Reid ate three wings per minute, it would take him about 900 years to eat 1.4 billion wings,” according to the annual chicken wing report from the National Chicken Council. That’s the record-breaking number of wings Americans are expected to devour during the game.

To put that number in perspective

• Every player in the NFL, including the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, would have to consume 825,000 wings each to reach 1.4 billion.
• 175 million pounds of wings weighs 1,500 times as much as the entire 49ers team and three of their team buses.
• 4 billion wings could circle the circumference of the Earth three times.
• 4 billion wings are enough to give every attendee of every Super Bowl since 1967 each 342 wings.
• 4 billion wings laid end to end would stretch the entire Florida coastline, home of Super Bowl LIV, more than nine times.
• If each of the 1.4 billion wings were counted as one second, they would equal about 45 years.

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To get a better idea of just how much Americans love a spicey chicken wing, the council asked wing-eaters from around the nation to tell them a little bit more about how they prefer them. Roughly two-thirds of Americans (65 percent) who eat chicken wings said they like to do so while watching a major sporting event like the Super Bowl. One-half (51 percent) said they believe chicken wings should be the official food of the Super Bowl.

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“Football is great. Wings are great. But they’re even better together,” council spokesman Tom Super said. “Sure, you can have your chips, your guacamole, your pizza. But when it comes to Super Bowl menus, wings rule the roost. So dive in and help put a dent in that 1.4 billion.”

–Alan Goforth | Metro Voice