It was the best of times. The Eagles jumped on the Kansas City Chiefs early and cruised to a 40-22 victory for the team’s second-ever Super Bowl title. Afterward, tens of thousands of people celebrated across the region. They made a big mess, it got cleaned up, and we’ll do it — but a lot more — on Friday.
The parade was announced Monday and detailed Tuesday. We’ve got some time to kill now, and there’s a lot to discuss. And Billy Penn wanted to help by giving you some data to spur thoughts, spark conversations and generally keep this great moment alive.
So here you go, the “Eagles’ Super Bowl journey by the numbers.”
126 million
That’s the average number of people in the U.S. who watched Sunday’s game, making it the most-watched Super Bowl ever. That’s 2% more than last year’s Chiefs-Niners game. The audience peaked at more than 135 million in the second quarter, and maybe it’s not surprising that people in Kansas City might have made the business decision to skip the second half (sorry, Chiefs fans, we’re not above trolling).
10 and 29
That’s the numbers of arrests and summons for disorderly conduct, respectively, during Sunday night’s celebrations. Thankfully, after the celebration two weeks earlier left a college student dead and others injured, there were no serious injuries or deaths Sunday. That said, two street poles were pulled down.
5.5 million
That’s the number of gallons of water used by the Philadelphia Water Department’s customers in the 8 p.m. hour during the Super Bowl. Known apocryphally as “the Super Flush,” it’s a known phenomenon that the highest water flow in a year occurs during halftime of the Super Bowl — and Sunday’s numbers bear that out. More specifically, some investigations have shown that the water flow peaks before and after the halftime show. Water Department spokesperson Brian Rademaekers says the average hourly water usage for the day was 2.5 million gallons, and the previous Sunday had no 8 p.m. spike. Flush on, Philadelphia!
$750,000
That’s the amount one bettor put down on the Chiefs to win Sunday’s game (what’s called “moneyline,” without having to factor in the betting spread). Overall, it was a good night for the sports betting books, as the majority of bets nationally were on the Chiefs to win and neither Saquon Barkley nor Travis Kelce, the subjects of a great many individual “prop” bets, had a good game. One outlier: the sportsbook at Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino, which unsurprisingly saw a lot of bets on the Eagles winning. “It certainly wasn’t a good result for us,” the casino’s sportsbook director said. (And by the way, the Eagles are a 6-to-1 favorite to win the Super Bowl next year.)
18
That’s the number of wins the Eagles had this season, regular season and playoffs combined, and it’s the most ever in team history. The runner-up? Two seasons ago, when they won 16 games but lost in the Super Bowl. It certainly hopes that the league added a 17th regular season game a few years back, but it also points to an encouraging fact — the Eagles have been pretty darn good in the 21st Century. They are 262-180-2 overall, 20-15 in the playoffs, with three Super Bowl appearances and two titles. These are very good times to be an Eagles fan.
15
The number of Jumbotrons set up along the parade route. As in 2018, they will re-play Sunday’s Super Bowl before the parade proper (Editor’s note: having been there in 2018, this was the absolute best!)
1 million
This is how many people the city expects to attend Friday’s parade. The count for the 2018 parade was contested — the Inquirer spoke to experts who estimated the crowd at 700,000, which Philadelphia Magazine thought was hogwash. If you look at the photos, we’re with PhillyMag. And while we’re talking about the crowds …
850
That’s the number of port-a-potties the city provided for the previous Super Bowl victory parade, a number that was universally found to be far too few. The city has been reluctant to say how many it will provide this year, but for the love of all that is holy, please let it be (a lot) more than 850. Many of us are still recovering from what we saw, and what people inadvertently kicked on others, in 2018.
$171,000
That’s the bonus each player on the Super Bowl’s winning roster receives. The losers get $96,000 each. And while we’re talking money, being the winning quarterback in a Super Bowl increased Jalen Hurts’ base salary for the next three years by $500,000. He was already making $50 million-plus a year, so it’s not changing his life, but not bad.
4
The number of Eagles who have been on both Eagles’ Super Bowl rosters. The four: Jake Elliott, Brandon Graham, Lane Johnson and (extra credit if you got this one) long snapper Rick Lovato. Hopefully more will be at this parade and the next one.
$1.2 billion
That’s the economic boost a Super Bowl win will have for the 6 million people who live in the greater Philadelphia region, according to two academics at Xavier University.
$20,960.68
The estimated cost to create each Super Bowl ring for the Eagles in 2018. Why so expensive? Crafted from 10-karat white gold, the ring boasts 219 diamonds and 17 green sapphires, totaling 9.15 carats. The ring’s top feature has the Eagle’s head logo atop the Vince Lombardi Trophy, adorned with a marquis-cut diamond and nine custom-cut sapphires, all surrounded by diamonds. The marquis diamond symbolizes the team’s first Super Bowl victory, and the four green sapphires represent their four NFL championships.
13
That was Brandon Graham’s draft position in the 2010 draft. Now 36, Graham returned from a serious injury to play in Sunday’s Super Bowl. If as some suspect, he retires, he played in 206 games, with 106 starts and 76.5 sacks — including the most consequential strip-sack in franchise history.