WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 23, 2014 – Here are some super stats from the National Chicken Council in advance of Super Bowl Sunday, which is fast approaching on Feb. 2:
-Americans will devour about 1.25 billion chicken wings on the unofficial national holiday, when the Seattle Seahawks take on the Denver Broncos for the Lombardi Trophy. That’s about 20 million more than a year ago.
-If that many wing segments were laid end to end, they would stretch 30 times from CenturyLink Field in Seattle, the home of the Seahawks, to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the site of Super Bowl XLVIII (or Super Bowl 48 for you non-Latin majors).
-That’s enough to put 572 wings on every seat in all 32 NFL stadiums.
-2014 is the 50th anniversary of the iconic “Buffalo Wing,” when the delicacy was first introduced at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, N.Y.
Bill Roenigk, the Chicken Council’s chief economist, says the jump in consumption coincides with an increase in poultry production linked to increasing consumer demand and decreasing feed costs.
“The National Chicken Council estimates about 4 percent more chicken will be produced this year compared to last,” Roenigk said. “More chickens mean a bigger supply of wings and more favorable prices. Based off of current supermarket features, consumers can expect to pay around 5 percent less than last January for wings.”
Prices for corn, the main ingredient in chicken feed, hit a record high in late 2012 following the worst Midwest drought in decades and as the federal government required about 40 percent of the corn crop be used for ethanol production.
One more thing: If chickens were sports fans, they would probably be pulling for Seattle in the Super Bowl, and not just because of any fowl relationship. According to NPD Group’s CREST Local Market service, Seattle residents are 44 percent less likely to eat wings in general than the average resident of the top 42 U.S. markets. Denver fans are only 5 percent less likely.
#30
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