Trending Food at Sporting Events

One thing sport fans love to both critique and indulge? The food at sporting events. The stereotypical go-to at most sporting events has to be savoury. Whether it’s a pie, a sausage roll, a burger, or a hot dog, a good bit of stodge to balance out the likely British beer intake. Yet events like Wimbledon are known for their iconic strawberries and cream.

At TangoBet, we’ve dug into the varying options available for food at sporting events across the UK. Follow along for our findings with some international stats thrown in too.

Wimbledon:

• Towards the end of June, the sporting focus in the UK shifts to Wimbledon. For the two week tennising period, viewers across the country are glued to the tournament. Tennis is the primary focus, but coming in a very close second place for the live audience is the iconic strawberries and cream.
• Each year at Wimbledon, over 38.4 tonnes of strawberries and over 7,000 litres of cream are consumed at the tournament by tennis enthusiasts. All that are sold at Wimbledon are locally sourced in the UK. Every day at the tournament, strawberries are freshly picked in Kent and delivered to the grounds, ensuring fans enjoy the freshest pick. Over the two weeks, it is estimated that around 1.92 million strawberries are sold.

UK Football Stadium Favourites:

Savoury options for sporting event snacks are considered the norm. In football, having a pie at the game is a staple for a fan matchday experience.

In a recent study across the Championship, it was found that pie consumption on matchdays is a lot higher in the North compared to the South. The club with the lowest pie consumption across the league is based in London.

The North East Region of the Championship dominated the league in terms of the number of pies eaten on matchday. Sunderland were top of the pie list with 2.8 pies per fan, and Middlesbrough were not far behind with 2.6 pies per fan.

The bottom four teams are clubs based in the South or Wales. This included the likes of Queens Park Rangers at the bottom, and Bristol City and Luton Town narrowly missing out on that last spot.

Scottish Football Grounds:

In the Scottish Premier Football League, the cheapest average season ticket is valued at around £299. But if a club can provide a good, warm cup of Bovril and a fantastic pie at half-time, then it can make a fan forget about the price of their season ticket and place more value on the matchday experience. But which Scottish club has the best pie?

At the 2024 Scotch Pie Awards, Brownings the Bakers Ltd, Kilmarnock, walked away with the gold award. Brownings are notoriously known for their famous Killie Pie, which is sold on matchdays at Kilmarnock’s Rugby Park. This was a stellar achievement for the bakery as they maintained their position for another year as the best pie in the Scottish Premier Football League.

Non-League and Local Club Delicacies:

In recent years, the footballing world has seen many top-flight clubs continue to offer traditional pies and pints, but an increasing number of clubs are diversifying their food options on match days. For example, Tottenham Hotspur have 60 different food stalls that you can choose from on a matchday. But is this vastly different choice of food replicated in the lower leagues of football?

In the North West Counties Football League Premier Division, Avro FC are one of the standout clubs in the league when it comes to matchday food. The club decided to team up with the catering company Macie’s to provide fans with delicious matchday food.

Avro FC is based in Greater Manchester and plays their football at the Vestacare Stadium. The club has now become renowned for serving some of the best food that a football club can offer in the area. From delicious breakfast wraps to juicy burgers, it justifies going to watch an Avro FC match.

International Sporting Events:

One of the most significant sporting events worldwide is the Super Bowl. And with that comes a substantial amount of food being consumed by American football fans worldwide.

Super Bowl Sunday is a sacred day for any American football fan, but it is also a historic one. During Super Bowl LIV, approximately 1.4 billion chicken wings were consumed across America, equivalent to 175 million pounds of chicken.

When Major League Baseball returned in 2022 due to COVID-19 restrictions, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) estimated that MLB fans would consume 19.1 million hot dogs and nearly 5 million sausages at games across the country that season.

The food options across the sporting world have evolved. Sport teams and sporting events are shifting away from the traditional food choices that have been prevalent for some time, and everyone wants a stab at top spot for best match day grub.

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