Season nears its end
It’s hard to believe, but the football season will officially come to an end sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. Sunday night, when the clock finally runs out on Super Bowl LX.
And, even though the Steelers saw their season come to an end Jan. 12 with a 30-6 loss to Houston in the wild card round of the National Football League playoffs, fans across the Tri-State Area, the country and the world, for that matter, will be watching when New England and Seattle face off in Levi’s Stadium.
That’s because, even though following the Steelers during the past several years has rarely been anything short of a frustrating experience, fans in our region still love their football.
Another reminder of that came earlier in the week, when WalletHub released its annual list of best cities for football fans, and Pittsburgh was ranked first.
That ranking was determined by the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website after its experts look at 250 cities that have either a professional or college football team and analyzed 21 metrics, including stadium capacity and fan engagement.
Pittsburgh was also first in the rankings of NFL cities and, surprisingly, 11th among college football cities. That finding came just after officials with the University of Pittsburgh announced that they would reduce the seating capacity for their games at Accrisure Stadium beginning next year.
That decision, which will eliminate seating on the upper east and west sides of the stadium, means the capacity for Pitt games will be reduced to 51,416 from 68,400.
Among the other cities in our region, Cincinnati is 14th overall (15th among the professional ranks and 162nd among college cities.) Cleveland, meanwhile, is 24th overall (23rd among NFL teams and 244th among college cities.)
Looking at the cities in our region that don’t have NFL teams, Morgantown was ranked 50th overall (31st for pro football and 22nd for college football.) That’s one spot lower than Loretto, Pa., which finished 31st for pro football and 12th for college football.
Youngstown is 75th overall (tied for 31st for pro football, 51st for college football) and Athens is 80th overall (tied for 31st in pro football and 56th for college football.)
You have to go all the way to 116th overall to find Columbus, which is tied for 31st in pro football and only 93rd in college football.
Looking at other numbers, Cleveland is listed as having the fourth lowest ticket price in the NFL, while Ohio State is ranked 240th (out of 241) when it comes to having the highest minimum season ticket price in college football. That’s just above Florida.
Overall, the most engaged NFL fans are in Pittsburgh and Green Bay — which tied for first. They are followed by Boston, New Orleans and Seattle. The least engaged fans are in New York.
The most engaged college football fans are in Clemson, S.C., State College, Pa., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., which are tied for first. Oxford, Miss., and Starkville, Miss., are in fourth and fifth. The least engaged college football fans can be found in New York.
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While football is at the center of the Super Bowl, what we eat ranks pretty close in importance.
The amount of food and drink consumed on Super Bowl Sunday is staggering. In fact, numerous reports show that 100 million Americans will consume at least 2,400 calories while watching the game. Super Bowl Sunday is, after all, the second largest food holiday of the year, finishing right behind Thanksgiving, according to information from Premio Foods.
Unlike Thanksgiving, though, it’s estimated that one in seven Americans will order take-out food for the Big Game.
Chicken wings are among the top choice for food — the National Chicken Council says there will be more than 100 million pounds of wings eaten Sunday, which works out to about 1.45 billion wings.
We’ll also snack on 304 million pounds of guacamole, 11.2 million pounds of potato chips, 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips, 12.5 million pounds of bacon and 10 million pounds of ribs.
That will all be washed down with a lot of soft drinks, beer and whiskey. Expect nearly $520 million to be spent on pop, $300 million on beer and $226 million on whiskey.
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And, of course, the Super Bowl offers numerous opportunities for betting. According to the American Gaming Association, $1.76 billion will be bet legally on the game.
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So, grab a plate of wings, open a cold beverage and sit back and enjoy the game — and start to make plans for the NFL Draft, which will be held April 23-25 in Pittsburgh.
(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times)
