Super Bowl Sunday Means Super Chicken Wing Sales

US - Americans are forecast to eat 1.25 billion chicken wings for Super Bowl Sunday on 31 January, with wholesale prices higher than last year.
calendar icon 26 January 2015
clock icon 3 minute read

With the second biggest eating day of the year after Thanksgiving upon us – Super Bowl Sunday – there is no hotter time of year for chicken wings, which have become a staple food on Super Bowl menus.

According to the National Chicken Council’s 2015 Wing Report, 1.25 billion wings will be eaten during Super Bowl XLIX, as fans watch the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots battle for the Lombardi Trophy, matching the record tied last year when the Seahawks defeated the Denver Broncos.

To put that into perspective, if 1.25 billion wing segments were laid end to end, they would stretch back and forth from CenturyLink Field in Seattle to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts – almost 28 times. With the Super Bowl being played in Arizona, 1.25 billion wings would circle the Grand Canyon 120 times. That is enough wings to put 572 wings on every seat in all 32 NFL stadiums, according to the Council.

In terms of weight, 1.25 billion wings would weigh 5,955 times more than the weights of the Seahawks and Patriots entire 52-man rosters combined.

National Chicken Council Vice President of Communications, Tom Super, noted: “Although the total amount of pounds of chicken produced last year rose by about 1.8 per cent, the total number of chickens processed was virtually the same in 2014 as is was in 2013. A chicken only has two wings; therefore, the supply of wings is limited by the total number of chickens produced.”

The average price (wholesale, not retail) of whole wings is currently $1.71 per pound, up from $1.35 per pound at the same time last year, according to the Daily Northeast Broiler/Fryer Report by the US Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Marketing Service. This is down significantly from the record high of $2.11 per pound in January 2013.

Wing prices traditionally go up in the fourth quarter of the year as restaurants and supermarkets stock up for the Super Bowl, and prices usually peak in January during the run-up to the big game.

Further Reading

You can view the full report from the NCC by clicking here.

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