The Super Bowl is on the way, bringing not just economic impact for the destination but lots of parties for everyone at home. In fact, the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that Americans will spend $18.6 billion on food, drinks, apparel, party decorations and other categories on Super Bowl parties, eclipsing last year’s figure of $17.3 billion.
Some party hosts will go all out with catering but a majority of the U.S. football watching population will hold potluck parties. Either way, it adds up to lots of calories. In fact, one source notes, the average calories ingested per individual add up to nearly 8,100, leaving Thanksgiving (a poultry paltry 2,000 to 3,000 calories by comparison) a distant second.
Here’s a breakdown of those calories.
Love Those Wings: Last year, WalletHub estimated that 1.45 billion chicken wings would be eaten at SuperBowl Parties. By the way, that comes down to 725 million chickens sacrificing their wings in the name of football.
Crunch Time: Whether you’re talking about potato chips or nachos, they’re bound to be popular. Restaurantware says that 19.4 million pounds of chips will be purchased.
Gotta Have the Guac: According to Winspire, 8 million pounds of guacamole will be used to wash down those chips.
Beer Basics: Americans drink over 325.5 million gallons of beer throughout the day (over 2 million cases), notes TreeHugger. This is equal to 493 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Delivery: Pizza delivery is another popular option; WalletHub says there is a 35 percent increase in pizza orders on Super Bowl Sunday.
Ribs: Another favorite with the party crowd, according to WalletHub, which notes that 10 million pounds of ribs will be purchased in the week leading up to the game.
Soft Drinks: About $2.7 million will be spent on sodas, water and other non-alcoholic beverages.
Say Cheese: The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin say 20 million pounds of cheese will be eaten during parties. That equates to 1.7 million wheels of cheese – enough to fill the entire playing field of Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay with a football-field sized cheese board and all other NFL stadiums nationwide. Worth noting: The farmers say that cheese (and recipes containing cheese) are the ultimate comfort food.
Average Intake: Here is what Audacy says the average person at the average party will graze on during the big game:
Dieting? Not This Sunday: While some health and weight loss sites suggest having items like chicken breasts instead of wings (claiming someone could eat 19 chicken breasts to get the same amount of fat as a dozen Buffalo wings), it’s unlikely that the majority of party goers will worry about their calories.
Someone who eats three Tostitos Restaurant-Style Tortilla Chips with 7-Layer Dip would need to play a full professional football game to burn off the chips and dip
Eating three slices of Pizza Hut Pepperoni Lover’s pizza totals 1,380 calories. To work that off would require running the length of a 100-yard football field 144 times, at an average speed of 5 mph.
A fan who eats 10 Buffalo Crispy Chicken Wings with blue cheese dressing and feels bad about it afterward can burn off the calories by climbing stadium steps for 2 1/2 hours.
The Morning After: The site, LifeHealth.com, notes that an estimated 16.1 million Americans will develop what is known as the Super Bowl Flu, and call in sick to work the next day.
Oh, and from the same site comes the news that over a third of U.S. employees (37 percent) believe the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.
