Super Bowl LIII: Just the facts and more
By Joey Howard, Winters Media and Publishing, Inc.
The Super Bowl is a happening. An American staple that many folks want to create into a national holiday.
It’s an event that grabs the attention of most of the country and many around the world. In the U.S., nearly 70 percent of the country will be watching at some point Sunday evening.
There’s Super Bowl parties galore and lots of food, a seven-hour pre-game show, those expensive and captivating TV commercials, the halftime show and of course, the game.
Below are some insights to Sunday’s game that you normally would not see in a Super Bowl preview. Enjoy.
SUPER BOWL TIDBITS
• Super Bowl LIII (53) will kickoff at 6:30 p.m.
• The game is between the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots (13-5) vs. the National Football Conference champion Los Angeles Rams (15-3).
• It is the 11th appearance in the Super Bowl for the Patriots (5-5). It is the 4th appearance for the Rams (1-2).
• The 2019 game will be played in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium (seating capacity 75,000).
• The game will be televised by CBS and streamed on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App.
• TV announcers are Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Tony Romo (analyst); Tracy Wolfson and Evan Wasburn (sidelines).
• Seven-time Grammy winner Gladys Knight will sing the national anthem. Chloe x Halle will sing “America the Beautiful.”
• Maroon 5 will perform the halftime show, alongside Travis Scott and Big Boi.
• The average Super Bowl LIII ticket costs between $2,500 and $3,000. By comparison, tickets were $12 each to the first three Super Bowls (1967-68-69).
• New England and the then-St. Louis Rams squared off in Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans in 2002. The Patriots won 20-17.
• Patriots quarterback Tom Brady holds the NFL record and will be appearing in his 9th Super Bowl. He is tied with defensive lineman Charles Haley with the most Super Bowl wins (five).
• Players on the winning team will get a paycheck for $118,000. The losing team players will get $59,000. Last year, the winners (Philadelphia Eagles) got $112,000, the losers (New England) received $56,000.
• Winning players got $15,000 each in the very first Super Bowl in 1967. The losers got a check for $7,500.
• In the past 52 Super Bowls, only one game has gone into overtime – Super Bowl LI in 2017 as the Patriots came from behind to beat the Atlanta Falcons 34-28.
LOCAL, LOCAL, LOCAL
• Seven players who played collegiately in Georgia are on the rosters of the Patriots and Rams. For New England, center David Andrews (UGA), offensive lineman Shaq Mason (Ga. Tech), running back Sony Michel (UGA), offensive lineman Ulrick John (Ga. State) and offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn (UGA) played in the Peach State. John and Wynn are on injured reserve and will miss the game. For the Rams, running back Todd Gurley (UGA) and linebacker Ramik Wilson (UGA) played locally.
• Three players who played high school football in Coweta County have appeared in the Super Bowl. Drew Hill (Newnan) played for the L.A. Rams in Super Bowl XIV (1980). Keith Brooking (East Coweta) played for the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII (1999). And Chris Hanson (East Coweta) played for the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII (2008).
WHERE IT’S PLAYED
• This is the third time the Super Bowl has been played in Atlanta. The other two – Super Bowl XXVIII in 1994 as the Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills, 30-13; and Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000 as the then-St. Louis Rams downed the Tennessee Titans, 23-16.
• The next five Super Bowl locations have been announced – 2020 in Miami, 2021 in Tampa, 2022 in Los Angeles, 2023 in Phoenix and 2024 in New Orleans.
• Both Miami and New Orleans have served the most as host cities of the Super Bowl as each has hosted 10 games.
TELEVISION STUFF
• Last year, 103.5 million people watched the Super Bowl on TV. The all-time high is 114.4 million in 2015.
• CBS is charging $5.25 million per 30-second commercial during Sunday’s telecast. By comparison, TV commercials for the first Super Bowl in 1967 cost $37,500 for a 30-second message.
• Anheuser-Busch is buying a record six-and-a-half minutes of advertising time during this year’s Super Bowl, a cost of almost $34 million.
• A pair of animal rescue TV shows have emerged in recent years on Super Bowl Sunday. Animal Planet hosts the Puppy Bowl XV on Sunday at 3 p.m. and the Hallmark Channel hosts Kitten Bowl VI at 2 p.m.
THE BETTING LINE
• The Las Vegas betting line is from 2 to 2.5 points with New England as the favorite as of Friday.
• Around $325 million will be bet legally on the Super Bowl at various sports books across the country Sunday.
• Last year, the American Gaming Association said $4.6 billion was bet illegally on the Super Bowl.
• Side bets – or prop bets – are different ways to bet on the Super Bowl. Some of the most popular prop bets are the coin toss outcome, first team to score, will game go to overtime, most valuable player and first player to score.
• Some unique prop bets for Super Bowl LIII – the length of the national anthem (over/under 1 minute, 47 seconds); total times President Trump will tweet during the game (over/under 1); first song performed during halftime show (odds favoring “Moves Like Jagger”); and color of liquid thrown on winning coach (odds favoring clear/water).
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD AND DRINKS
• The Calorie Control Council says the average number of calories consumed by the average American during a Super Bowl party is 2,400. That’s the second-biggest feast day of the year, only trailing Thanksgiving.
• The Snack Food Association estimates that 11.2 million pounds of potato chips, 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, and 3 million pounds of nuts are eaten during the Super Bowl.
• 100 million pounds of guacamole is eaten during the game.
• 325 million gallons of beer will be consumed during the game.
• 1.5 million people will call into work sick the day after the Super Bowl.
• The National Restaurant Association says an estimated 48 million Americans order take-out or delivery during the Super Bowl.
• An estimated 1.35 billions chicken wings will be eaten on Super Bowl Sunday, according to the National Chicken Council.
• The National Pork Board cites that 10 million pounds of ribs, and 12.5 million pounds of bacon are sold the week of the Super Bowl.
• Domino’s Pizza sells more than 11 million slices on Super Bowl Sunday, a nearly 350 percent jump from a normal Sunday. And their delivery drivers will drive a combined 4 million miles on Super Bowl Sunday which is a bit more than 8 round-trip deliveries to the moon.
Photo credit: mercedesbenzstadium.com
