Depending on which source you’re quoting, the biggest party day of the year isn’t Halloween night, nor is it New Year’s Eve. It’s Super Bowl Sunday.
That’s right: chicken wings and pigskin trump pumpkins, costumes, noisemakers and the hoopla in Times Square. And while it's only the Falcons and the Patriots who will battle it out for the Vince Lombardi Trophy, the myriad numbers they’ll post in the meantime are eye-crossing.
Our friends over at WalletHub, of course, are taken with the numbers game. Last year’s Super Bowl, they note, posted the following figures:
$500 Million-Plus: The economic impact on the San Francisco Bay area of the last Super Bowl
$4.8 Million: What it cost San Francisco to host last year
250 Percent: Estimated price increase in travel to Super Bowl locations up to and around the time of the event
$126 Million: How much could be wagered on the Super Bowl
First Down: Oddly, social media underperformed during the Super Bowl in 2016, according to Forbes, which noted, “60 million people joined the conversation on Facebook worldwide during Super Bowl 50 with 200 million posts, comments and likes, and Twitter reports about 27 million tweets about the Super Bowl. However, the total numbers for both Twitter and Facebook decreased from last year, although that’s hardly a post-mortem and more likely reflects a less dynamic football game. In 2015, Facebook reported 265 million posts, comments and likes from 65 million people. And Twitter’s numbers also declined from a high of 28.4 million in 2015.”
First, Period: Ever since TV networks have been simultaneously streaming the Super Bowl along with their traditional linear airing of the game, this year marks the first time a network will feature local advertising from their TV affiliates in the digital broadcast, according to MediaPost.
But really, Super Bowl is all about the parties. And whether it’s a big game blowout or a few close friends, the entertainment results in some significant numbers of its own.
188.9 Million: The number of individuals who watched last year’s Super Bowl, according to the National Retail Federation (and since numbers have risen each year, it’s safe to consider this year’s total will go even higher). NRF also posts the following information:
43.3 Million: Number of fans who plan to throw a Super Bowl party (another 70 million say they’ll attend a party given by others)
$15.5 Billion: Anticipated as the total spent on Super Bowl parties (including food, décor, souvenirs and more)
8.6 Million: Number of new televisions expected to be purchased for the big game (while many Americans expect to buy a new TV in the coming year, the Super Bowl presents an opportunity to pull the trigger – and stores advertise heavily in the weeks leading up to the broadcast)
85 Million: The number of those planning to watch the Super Bowl who say the football game is the most important part of the day (43.4 million say the commercials are the best part, and another 11 million say enjoying the fun food is the most important part.) Bonus stat: 12.9 percent of 18-24 year olds say the halftime show is the most important part of Super Bowl Sunday for them, the highest of any age group. Of course, given last year’s halftime show acts, which included Bruno Mars, that’s not exactly groundbreaking information.
And for the 11 million foodies, WalletHub offers up the following stats to chew on:
1.3 Billion: The number of chicken wings expected to be consumed
14,500-Plus: Tons of chips to be eaten
8 Million-Plus: Pounds of guacamole used for dipping.
11 Million: Slices of Domino’s pizza that will likely be ordered and eaten, according to Huffington Post. Bonus trivia: A slice from a large Domino’s pizza is about 7 inches long. Line those 11 million slices end-to-end and it’d be the length of 21,388 football fields. (No, we don’t know who got paid to calculate that; we’re glad someone did.)
Of course, for washing down all that great food, it’s essential to have liquid refreshments:
51.7 Million: The number of cases of beer expected to be consumed during the Super Bowl, according to AL.com
$236 Million: How much fans were expected to spend on soft drinks, according to the HuffPo
With numbers like that, maybe this final one, courtesy of WalletHub, isn’t a surprise:
1.5 Million: People who will call in sick the Monday after Super Bowl.
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