Are Chiefs headed for another orange bath?
When Super Bowl LVII is all but decided between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday, you can bet that millions of Americans will be immensely focused on the winning sideline.
That’s because you can bet on what color Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach.
It’s a very polarizing topic — go ahead, start the conversation at your Super Bowl party — and most people seem to have a passionate opinion on the eventual color of the infamous victory bath. There’s not much handicapping involved as the majority of guessers just pick their favorite flavor, but sometimes there’s a method to the electrolyte madness.
And it’s definitely a challenging market for bookmakers given all the possibilities.
“Some colors occur more than others, so that is the starting point albeit not a great one,” NBC Sports lead betting analyst and former bookmaker Jay Croucher told NESN. “That creates the baseline to work off and then you throw the numbers up and let bettors shape the market. Prices get moved aggressively and immediately especially with information from respected players.”
Super Bowl Gatorade colors last 10 years:
56: Blue
55: Blue
54: Orange
53: Blue
52: Yellow
51: None
50: Orange
49: Blue
48: Orange
47: None
Gatorade betting odds also tend to fluctuate quite a bit after the market is posted. For example, the “yellow/green” option opened at +400 for Super Bowl LVII, but multiple videos surfaced with the Eagles dousing head coach Nick Sirianni with yellow Gatorade in the NFC Championship.
BetMGM is now dealing “yellow/green” at +275, so that $100 that could have won you $400 only wins you $275. That said, getting +275 on a likely Eagles “yellow/green” pour is substantially more profitable than laying -125 on an Eagles moneyline bet. It’s certainly something to think about if you like Philly.
And then there’s Andy Reid’s orange bath after the Chiefs beat San Francisco three years ago.
I believe Kansas City will lean on orange again, which opens up a very interesting betting angle. You can bet the Chiefs on the moneyline at +110 or bet orange Gatorade at +300. If you believe in the Chiefs’ devotion to drinking orange in this year’s Super Bowl, you could get almost triple the return if they win.
You can’t actually break the house on Gatorade bets, but the math is rather interesting.
“Limits were always relatively sane on that market given it’s not something particularly grounded in data or anything objective,” Croucher explained. “On Super Bowl Sunday, we were always sweating the bigger stuff like praying (unsuccessfully) that Cooper Kupp wouldn’t score a touchdown.”