There is nothing more uniquely American than Super Bowl Sunday, except, potentially, Super Bad Monday
Did you enjoy the Super Bowl yesterday? There’s no question that Super Bowl Sunday is an unofficial holiday in America. Between the game, the halftime show and the commercials there is something for everyone, and most of us take part in the celebration.
Oh, there’s also the food and drink. Every year, the National Chicken Council publishes its annual Chicken Wing Report. Americans’ love for wings only continues to grow. This year’s wing consumption estimate is a two percent increase over 2019, meaning Americans will eat 27 million more wings during this year’s big game weekend versus last year’s. To put that in perspective, if Kansas City Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid ate three wings per minute, it would take him about 900 years to eat 1.4 billion wings.
Among its findings:
- Every player in the NFL, including the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs, would have to consume 825,000 wings each to reach 1.4 billion
- 175 million pounds of wings weighs 1,500 times as much as the entire 49ers team and three of their team buses
- 1.4 billion wings could circle the circumference of the Earth 3 times
- 1.4 billion wings are enough to give every attendee of every Super Bowl since 1967 each 342 wings
- 1.4 billion wings laid end to end would stretch the entire Florida coastline, home of Super Bowl LIV, more than 9 times
- If each of the 1.4 billion wings were counted as one second, they would equal about 45 years
The case for a holiday
If you find yourself at work but wishing you weren’t this morning, you’re not alone. Wait…you actually might be. “Super Bowl fever” is expected to result in 17.5 million employees missing work on Monday, according to a survey by the Workforce Institute at Kronos Inc. It’s the largest amount ever since the institute began tracking in 2005.
Some workers even plan to not just show up, with 1.5 million employees expecting to “ghost” their employer without notifying anyone.
Furthermore, those that did make it in are most likely talking about their favorite commercials, dissecting the halftime performance, or talking about the game — Kansas City’s first win in 50 years.
Studies show the cost of lost productivity today to be on the order of almost $1 billion.
Should we accept the inevitable and just make Super Bowl Monday a national holiday? 40% of employees in this year’s survey say yes, compared to 32% in 2019. Nearly two-thirds (63%) believe the Super Bowl should be moved to the Sunday night before Presidents Day, which is already a national holiday in February where some businesses close or cut back on their planned workload and staffing.
Back to watching the commercials online work, I guess. Oh well, at least there are some leftover wings in the break room.
