Americans are expected to eat 1.45 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest eating day of the year behind Thanksgiving, according to the National Chicken Council.
“Football is great. Wings are great. But they’re even better together,” Council spokesman Tom Super said in a statement. “Sure, you can have your chips, your guacamole, your pizza. But when it comes to menus next Sunday, wings rule the roost. So, grab a wet nap and enjoy America’s favorite party food for the Big Game.”
Chicken wings are so heavily associated with Super Bowl watch parties that a limited-edition set of Buffalo wing and ranch flavored lip balms from Burt’s Bees and Hidden Valley Ranch sold out in just one day earlier this month. When football fans across the country sit down to watch the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers play in Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11, they will consume an estimated 1.45 billion wings, according to the National Chicken Council’s 2024 Wing Report.
For context, that’s enough wings for every single individual in the country, young and old, to eat four wings each, or to place 693 wings on every seat in all 30 NFL stadiums. If Kansas City Coach Andy Reid ate 50 wings every day, it would take 79,452 years for him to eat all 1.45 billion. If each wing represented one second in time, 1.45 billion would be reached in 2070, 46 years from now.
The wing projection for 2024 is about the same as it was for 2023, the council said. While wholesale prices on chicken wings have ticked up due to lower production levels and lower wing stocks in cold storage, the council said retail prices for fresh chicken wings are down about 5% from last year, while prices for frozen wings are down about 11%.
“One of these days, Buffalo will get back to the Big Game which would give wing consumption a nice boost,” Super said. “Maybe we’ll see Taylor Swift breaking out the ‘seemingly ranch’ again, to dip a wing in this time, though.”