Study: Football fans to eat 1.25B wings during Super Bowl, spend $11M on merchandise

We're just days away from the Super Bowl and football fans are ready to chow down.

Americans will eat about 1.25 billion chicken wings during Sunday's game, according to a study from the National Chicken Council. That's 100 million pounds of chicken wings.

If the wings were laid end-to-end they would circle the circumference of the Earth more than twice – a distance that would reach approximately a quarter of the way to the moon, according to the study.

About 23 percent of those who watch the big game will eat chicken wings, up slightly in popularity from last year, and second only to dips and spreads (32 percent) on Super Bowl menus, the study cites.

And it doesn't stop at the food. A new survey by the National Retail Federation estimates we'll shell out a record $11 billion on merchandise, clothes and snacks. The average game-watcher is expected to spend more than $60.

The survey also estimates 173 million people will watch this Sunday when the New York Giants take on the New England Patriots in Indianapolis.

To read the full studies, go to http://www.nationalchickencouncil.org/americans-to-consume-1-25-billion-chicken-wings-super-bowl-weekend/ and http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1300 .