America's Super Bowl obsessions: Chicken wings, chips, snack foods

Even before the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles hit the field for Sunday's Super Bowl in New Orleans, fans already know who the winners are. Come game time, chicken wings and snack foods reign mighty and are the real champs.
Fans or party guests may not remember who scored a touchdown or made a game-winning interception, but they'll remember buying and snacking on loads of chicken wings and bowlfuls of snack foods.
Overall, with more than 203 million adults planning on watching the game, according to the National Retail Federation, spending is predicted to be nearly $19 billion with watching spending $92 on average. Food and drink accounts for the largest share (81%) of that spending, ahead of team apparel, decorations, and other items.
Sales of savory snack food sales in the week leading up to Super Bowl 2024 clocked in at $670 million, according to data commissioned by the SNAC International (SNAC), the snack industry's trade association.
'The week leading up to the Super Bowl is the most significant benchmark for the snack food industry,' stated Christine Cochran, President and CEO of SNAC in a news release. 'The brands that stand out during this pivotal week are positioning themselves for big things in the year ahead.'
Ahead of Super Bowl 2024, SNAC's data revealed Americans bought:
107 million pounds of savory snacks or the equivalent of the weight of more than 15 million Vince Lombardi trophies. Each trophy, according to SNAC, weighs in at about 7 pounds.
Tortilla/tostada chips and corn snacks are the two products that saw significant sales spikes.
SNAC's data revealed that dollar values spiked by double percent increase in these specific snack food categories:
Tortilla/tostada chips sold: 34 million pounds valued at $172.2 million, a 31.7% increase
Potato chips sold: 28.9 million pounds, valued at $180.6 million, a 12.5% increase
Cheese snacks sold: 7.8 million pounds and valued at $58.6 million, an 11% increase
Corn snacks sold: 6.2 million pounds with a $43.2 million, a 14.4% increase
Pretzels sold: 9.6 million pounds for $42.6 million, an 8.2% increase
When the Super Bowl rolls around, "nothing is hotter than chicken wings," the National Chicken Council (NCC) says. The council's annual Chicken Wing Report, projects Americans will consume 1.47 billion chicken wings while watching the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles battle on Sunday.
That figure is a more than 1% increase from 2023 or about 20 million more chicken wings.
'Matthew McConaughey was right: Football is for food,' NCC spokesperson Tom Super said in a new release. 'Sure, there will be pizza, guacamole, chips, and dips, but when it comes to the Super Bowl, chicken wings rule the roost. '
In truth, 1.47 billion chicken wings is a lot wings. Here's how that amount of wings stacks up according to the NCC:
If every single player in the NFL ate 50 wings a day (and was immortal) it would take them, collectively, 720 years to eat 1.47 billion.
1.47 billion wings laid end to end would stretch to and from GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri to Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania about 63 times.
Enough to give more than four wings each to every man, woman, and child in the United States.
Laid end-to-end, 1.47 billion wings would circle the Earth more than 3 times.
Contact Detroit Free Press food and restaurant writer Susan Selasky and send food and restaurant news and tips to: sselasky@freepress.com. Follow @SusanMariecooks on Twitter. Subscribe to the Free Press.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: America's Super Bowl obsessions: Chicken wings, chips, snack foods

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