No Farms, No Big Game

This Sunday, a little football game called the Super Bowl will be played for the 59th time. If it weren’t for farmers and ranchers, millions of people would have to find another way to spend their Sunday evening. How does agriculture impact Super Bowl LIX, which will crown either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles?

Money changes hands, whether in the purchase of game tickets (average price $9,720), food, or the loss of a bet. Did you know 75% of that dollar bill you just used to tip the pizza delivery guy is made of cotton?

According to the National Retail Federation, 192.9 million adults plan to watch the big game, spending a total of $16.5 billion, or an average of $86.40 per person. While some of those expenditures will go to things like team apparel, decorations, new TVs, and furniture, a whopping 79% will be spent on food and beverages, all of which come from farms. In fact, Americans eat more food on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day of the year except for Thanksgiving.

Meal Time

Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest days for pizza sales in America. According to The American Pizza Community, a coalition of the nation’s largest pizza companies, 12.5 million pizzas were sold on the day of the big game last year. What would pizza be without wheat, dairy, meat, fruit, and vegetables, all grown or raised by farmers?

The National Chicken Council estimates 1.45 billion chicken wings will be eaten Sunday. That’s enough wings to go around the Earth three times.

More people will grill on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day besides the Fourth of July. There will be an estimated 14 billion hamburgers served on game day, possibly topped with some of the 12 million pounds of bacon that will be eaten.

Don’t forget the potato chips and dip, cheese and crackers, popcorn, meatballs, and other munchies gracing tables across the country.

The National Restaurant Association says 51.7 million cases of beer are sold every year during Super Bowl weekend. One bushel of barley, grown mostly by farmers across the Northern Plains and Pacific Northwest, will make 565 12-ounce beers. While at-home watchers will spend plenty on beer, at least they won’t have to pay $17.50 for a 25-ounce can of Bud Light like those attending the game will, but they’ll need it to wash down their $12.75 hot dog.

On-Field Contributions

Agriculture also affects the game itself. The turf in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas is a hybrid drought-tolerant Bermuda grass. The grass is rolled outside when the grass needs sunlight or the stadium is being used for other events. The Las Vegas Raiders use a grass surface, but the University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV) prefers an artificial turf field when the Rebels play their home games.

The earliest football uniforms were made of wool, which is shorn from sheep, not grown in a field. The wool was durable and held up to the physical play. Helmets today are made with polycarbonate, but the first helmets worn by players were made of soft leather.

Leather is also used to make the ball. Even though it’s often called a pigskin, footballs are actually made of cowhide. Wilson is the official supplier of footballs for the NFL: 120 of its footballs will be used in Sunday’s game. One cowhide will make 10 footballs. Not just any cowhide is used; it comes from cattle grown in Iowa, Kansas, or Nebraska.

Whether it’s the stadium, the field, the ball, or the food, one thing is clear: no farms, no Super Bowl.