By Jeff Burbrink
Ag & Natural Resources Extension Educator, Purdue Extension LaGrange County

Jeff Burbrink

LAGRANGE — On the surface, there does not seem to be a connection between agriculture and the biggest football game of the year. But if you dive in, you’ll see the two are very interwoven.

Maybe the most obvious connection is the football itself. The original footballs were made of a pig bladder, with leather stitched onto the surface. Pig bladders are apparently not very pleasant to inflate, so when rubber bladders came on the market, the pig bladders were set aside.

We often hear footballs referred to as pigskins, but that is not accurate. Modern footballs used in higher level games are made from high quality leather from cattle. The leather is cut and sewn together from four separate pieces. Each piece is stamped with the familiar pattern to give some texture to the ball for a better grip. The laces used to stitch the ball were originally made of leather, but most manufactures have opted to use synthetic fibers for better durability.

One cow can produce approximately 20 “pigskins” and approximately 120 game balls are used during the big game. That is the equivalent of six cow hides being used in one game.

Do not forget about the turf the players practice and play on. Most NFL and college programs have a full-time staff of turf professionals trained at Land Grant Universities like Purdue, Michigan State, Texas A & M and Penn State. When you have players depending on good footing to work their magic, the quality of the field is a very important part of the team’s health and safety.

Then there is the food. The Super Bowl is said to be the second largest food consuming event in the U.S., being surpassed only by Thanksgiving. I read an estimate that 1.25 billion chicken wings will be consumed during event-related activities! Around 10 million pounds of ribs, 12.5 million pounds of bacon and 14 billion hamburgers will be served, along with 12 million pounds of potato chips. It takes four pounds of raw potatoes to make a pound of chips, so 48 million pounds of potatoes will be consumed.

More fun food facts for the Super Bowl: 4 million pizzas, 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips and 3 million pounds of nuts will serve this hungry audience. One source claimed that 278 million avocados will be eaten. That’s enough to fill a football field endzone to endzone with a pile 53 feet deep.

I will not even discuss the beverage side of the big game, but you will certainly see a huge number of beverage advertisements on Sunday.