(WHTM) — As Super Bowl LIX draws near, fans are heading to their local restaurants and grocery stores for chicken wings, a staple serving for a successful Big Game party.
Americans are projected to eat 1.47 billion chicken wings while watching the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles compete for the Lombardi Trophy, the National Chicken Council (NCC) said in its annual Chicken Wing Report, released last week.
The report says this year’s projection marks a 1.5% increase from last year’s Super Bowl, or about 20 million more wings.
“Matthew McConaughey was right: Football is for food,” said NCC spokesperson Tom Super. “Sure, there will be pizza, guacamole, chips, and dips, but when it comes to the Super Bowl, chicken wings rule the roost. Although we do anticipate an uptick in chicken cheesesteaks this year.”
For context, 1.47 billion chicken wings could feed every NFL player (if they each ate 50 wings daily) for a collective 720 years, according to the NCC’s calculations. Laid end-to-end, that many wings could stretch to and from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia more than 62 times, the organization determined.
According to WingAddicts.com, the most popular wing flavor is Buffalo, with barbeque finishing second.
The Philadelphia Eagles will take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, February 8, 2025.