Chicken wing prices down despite sky-high demand for Super Bowl LX
Football fans may notice the price of a Super Bowl staple – chicken wings – is lower than last year as they prepare for the big game.
In recent decades, chicken wings, which include flats and drumettes, have surged in popularity with demand peaking around major sporting events. But the Super Bowl is the biggest game of all, and more than one billion wings are consumed around the event each year.
Wings become staple of modern pop culture
Dr. David Anderson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist and professor in the Texas A&M University (TAMU) Department of Agricultural Economics in Bryan-College Station, Texas, said the popularity of wings among sports fans isn’t expected to fade in the future.
“The Super Bowl and wings for snacking have melded pop culture, food and sports in a way which has elevated them from a castaway cut decades ago,” Anderson said. “The Super Bowl has become a sort of cultural holiday, and wings are part of this tradition now – just like hot dogs on the Fourth of July.”
The National Chicken Council estimates 1.48 billion chicken wings will be consumed when the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks vie for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl LX.
To put this in perspective, if laid end to end, 1.48 billion wings would circle the Earth’s equator more than three times, according to the National Chicken Council release.
Wing prices lower despite high demand
The increased popularity for wings has transformed a once-upon-a-time afterthought cut of meat into one of the most sought-after items on menus during sporting events. The demand has also turned them into one of the most valuable poultry cuts by weight.
The rise of wings in culinary culture mirrors the evolution of the beef brisket, a previously undervalued cut which surged with the booming popularity of barbecue, Anderson said.
And, like the brisket, wing production is limited by animal physiology, as there are only two flats and two drumettes per chicken.
According to Anderson, this year, fans shopping at grocery stores should expect to pay less per pound for wings than previous years, with wholesale prices at $1.12 per pound, up from 99 cents per pound to begin 2026. This is compared to $1.99 per pound the same week last year and well below the $2.65 per pound in 2024 and $3.80 per pound in 2022.
Wings are more popular than ever, but the Super Bowl represents the pinnacle for their demand.
Based on production estimates, Anderson said about 17.5 billion wings will be produced this year. This means around 8.5 percent of U.S. production will be consumed during the Super Bowl.
“It’s almost 1.5 billion, which is a heck of a lot of chicken wings,” he said. “Wings and the Super Bowl, they just go together. This year I am doing my part. I’m making wings for the big game.”
Dr. David Anderson is a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist and professor in the TAMU Department of Agricultural Economics in Bryan-College Station, Texas. This article was originally published by TAMU on Feb. 3.
