Our Personal Thoughts On Wing Bowl In General, and Wing Bowl 19 in Particular

As with our discussion of Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary, this is one of the rare, major Philadelphia events that we’ve never directly experienced. Neither a haunted house, nor a chicken-wing eating contest fits our taste in entertainment.

One key distinction – while we’re certain that we won’t ever be visiting Terror Behind the Walls, there is always the possibility that we might attend the Wing Bowl. We don’t find the Wing Bowl to be as repulsive or horrifying.

That having been said, it is difficult – even for an avid sports fan – to understand the appeal of arriving at the Wells Fargo Center, at the crack of dawn, in the middle of February in Philadelphia, to watch contestants attempt to stuff themselves with as many chicken wings as possible, for the entertainment of the spectators.

It sounds completely disgusting, and given the fact that we’ve seen the “highlights” of previous Wing Bowls on Philadelphia local news, we feel that we’ve got a fairly good understanding of what takes place at the Wing Bowl.

Apparently, There’s A Substantial Market For Wing Bowl 19

Nonetheless - our personal feelings of repugnance aside - the Wing Bowl has many thousands of devotees, who never miss the event, each February. So if you really feel that your February in Philadelphia isn’t complete, without personally witnessing the competitive, deliberate overconsumption of poultry propulsion limbs – here’s all the information that you need to know to attend (and enjoy) Wing Bowl 19.

Wing Bowl 19 – Tickets and Information

Tickets are currently on sale for Wing Bowl 19, at the Wells Fargo Center Box Office. You can also purchase them online at ComcastTix’s web site. Tickets are $10.00 apiece. Fortunately, the proceeds from ticket sales benefit various charities.

Wing Bowl 19 – What’s At Stake – A $20,000 Prize

Wing Bowl 19 will feature nearly 30 top eaters, all of whom are seeking the grand gustatory glory of being crowned Wing Bowl Champion. In addition to the glory, there is also a cash prize of $20,000 for the victor, a Wing Bowl Champion ring, and a gold medal commemorating the feat.

Wing Bowl 19 – Getting To the Wells Fargo Center Via SEPTA

In addition to the convenient interstate highways of I-95 and I-76 (the Schuylkill Expressway), you can take SEPTA quickly and easily to the Wing Bowl. One downside to the Broad Street Subway, at dawn in February, is that you’ll have to trudge a couple of blocks from the Pattison station (now the corporate-sponsored AT&T Station) in the cold. You can consult our complete SEPTA to Wells Fargo Center guide, for more details.

Wing Bowl 19 – A History

This is the 19th Wing Bowl, although WIP is sufficiently unpretentious, that they aren’t numerated with Roman numerals, like actual NFL Super Bowls. However, they do share a common antecedent.

Back in 1993, WIP on-air personality Al Morganti was faced with a need to fill the pre-Super Bowl vacuum of subjects for discussion on the all-sports radio station. In order to do so, thought up one of the strangest ideas in Philadelphia history – a chicken-wing eating contest, which was dubbed the “Wing Bowl”.

It’s not clear whether Morganti gets sole credit for the name, but it stuck, and in the absence of any other claim of the honor of creating the moniker “Wing Bowl”, we must give him full credit. Morganti, before shifting to radio, was a well-respected sports scribe at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and his verbal talents probably are the actual source of the name.

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