Football Fans Get Fatter When Their Team Loses
By Spike Eskin
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Let's hope that the Chip Kelly era begins with more wins than the Andy Reid era ended with, or Philadelphia Eagles fans could be packing on the pounds.
In a study done by Pierre Chandon of the INSEAD business school, NFL fans are shown to eat more poorly the day after a team's loss than they do the day after a win.
"One day after a defeat, Americans eat 16 percent more saturated fat, and 10 percent more calories," Chandon writes. "But on the day after a victory of their favorite team, then it's the opposite. They eat more healthily. They eat 9 percent less saturated fat, and 5 percent fewer calories. There was no effect in cities without a team or with a team that didn't play."
This resonates with what we published in April about Eagles fans. Food orders in Philadelphia through GrubHub were 10% higher after an Eagles loss than an Eagles win. Burger and pizza orders spiked by 5%-10% after Eagles losses, and Chinese food orders grew by 5%. However, dessert orders (containing ice cream or cake), spiked by 15% after wins, but actually dropped by 25% after an Eagles loss.
