As the Super Bowl approaches, restaurants and sports bars bask in the fervor that creates one of the biggest surges in chicken wing sales for the entire year. "Wing culture and sports culture go hand-in-hand, and the Super Bowl is one of our busiest times," says Adam Ehrlich, a regional manager for Buffalo Wild Wings. "We'll sell between 6,000 and 8,000 wings on the day of the Super Bowl. They're a comfort food that goes well with the energy of playoffs leading up to the big game."  U.S. restaurants sold more than 8 billion wings in 2008, according to the National Chicken Council. Football playoffs offer a boost to the market, triggering a 15% to 20% rise in prices during January. Wings have become so popular that their wholesale price now exceeds that of breast meat, which traditionally commanded a premium. 

"Fifteen years ago, chicken wings would run about 25% of the price of boneless chicken breast at wholesale, and now they're selling at nearly 140% of the price of breast meat," says Ron Plain, University of Missouri Extension agricultural economist. "That's a tremendous change in consumer demand toward wings, which are a very small part of the bird."   The USDA sees poultry as the only meat market with potential to grow in 2010. The agency's World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates in December predict that poultry production will rise 1.03% this year, compared with a 2.79% decline in pork and a 1.52% lag in beef markets.  Prices for the appendages continue to increase as distributors see a possible shortage of wings after lowered production in 2009.

Accompanying video is available for viewing or download at www.umsystem.edu/video#ChickenWings.