2023 Super Bowl party props downloadable sheet: Rihanna, Gronk and more fun bets (2024)

I’ve been putting together a Super Bowl party prop sheet for a handful of years, but only started sharing it with The Athletic audience a couple Super Bowls ago. My family and friends have enjoyed using it to add a little more skin in the game, and I figured you might too.

I believe a good party prop sheet is one that’s not too complicated and asks the type of questions that can be answered fairly easily even in a crowded room of party goers — in other words, no props where you have to count the number of times an announcer says a certain word, or how many times something about a player is mentioned, etc. And I make sure to incorporate the pomp and circ*mstance around the game — the coin flip, the halftime show, the commercials, etc. — to better appease the football agnostics of the group. The Super Bowl tends to bring out the one-timers, just like church on Christmas.

THE PRE-GAME

1. Chris Stapleton is singing the national anthem. Will it be over or under 2 minutes, 3 seconds? — OVER or UNDER

Past 16 Super Bowls: Nine unders (Billy Joel low at 1:30), seven overs (Alicia Keys high at 2:36)
The average length of the national anthem in those past 16 performances was 2 minutes, 0.4 seconds, but the average length of the 14 solo performances in that span was 1 minute, 58.6 seconds.
Check out Dan Santaromita’s breakdown of Chris Stapleton and the Super national anthem for some great insights.

2. What will be the main/dominant color of Chris Stapleton’s outfit — BLACK or OTHER?

I mean, Stapleton seems to be going after Johnny Cash’s moniker of “The Man in Black” because, outside of the occasional denim jacket, you don’t see many photos of him not in black. But, hey, you never know, the Super Bowl might inspire him to mix it up.

3. Which player will be shown on camera first during the national anthem — PATRICK MAHOMES (KC) or JALEN HURTS (PHI)?

Patrick Mahomes -135
Jalen Hurts +105

4. What will be the formation of the four-plane flyover at the conclusion of the national anthem — FINGER FOUR or DIAMOND or ECHELON or OTHER?

The flyover rocks, and I really wanted to find a way to include something about it here. After a quick Google search, I uncovered the fact that four aircraft — two F/A-18F Super Hornets, an F-35C Lightning II and an EA-18G Growler — will comprise this year’s flyover, which will commemorate 50 years of women flying in the Navy. I ended up latching on to the idea, and going down the rabbit hole, of flying formations — see below for what the listed formations entail.
Finger four formation is pretty easy to understand if you look at the fingers on your hand — the lead plane is the middle finger, and the other three planes occupy the index, ring and pinky finger positions.
Diamond formation is also easy to understand, with planes positioned at each point of a diamond shape ◊.
Echelon formation is the four planes positioned in a diagonal line.
Check this link out for a few OTHER possible formations.

5. What will be the coin flip result — HEADS or TAILS?

Super Bowl history: Heads 27, Tails 29 — Heads has made up some ground of late, winning four of the past five Super Bowls, and nine of the past 14.

THE COMMERCIALS

Note: Only commercials that run between opening kickoff to the final whistle of the game will qualify for scoring. For a complete ranking/rundown/commentary on this year’s SB commercials, be sure to check out Jake Ciely’s … column.

6. Which former NFL star will appear in a Super Bowl commercial first — ROB GRONKOWSKI (FanDuel) or TONY ROMO (Michelob) or DEION SANDERS (Oikos)?

Speaking of Gronk…

7. What will be the result of Gronk’s “Kick of Destiny” in his FanDuel commercial, and will it be OVER or UNDER 32.5 yards? — OVER/MAKE or OVER/MISS or UNDER/MAKE or UNDER/MISS

If you haven’t heard, Gronk is going to attempt a field goal live during a Super Bowl commercial/promo for FanDuel, who has dubbed the commercial the “Kick of Destiny.” The reason I set the O/U distance at 32.5 is due to Gronk saying he kicked a 33-yard field goal in high school, and 33 yards is also the distance of an NFL extra point. He also mentioned he’s been practicing with former All-Pro kicker Adam Vinatieri to prepare for his big kick.

8. Which music artist will be shown in a commercial first — JACK HARLOW (Doritos) or MEGHAN TRAINOR (Pringles) or DAVE GROHL (Crown Royal) or SEAN COMBS (Uber)?

9. Which beer will Molson Coors show first in “The High Stakes Beer Ad” commercial — COORS LIGHT or MILLER LIGHT?

Molson Coors is among the Super Bowl commercial slate for the first time since 1989, as AB InBev owned exclusive rights in the beer category for the past 33 years, with their deal expiring following last year’s Super Bowl. Molson Coors has planned a splashy return — dubbed “The High Stakes Beer Ad” — in partnership with Draft Kings, where viewers can bet on a variety things that might happen in their commercial, including which of their beers will be shown first in the commercial, in addition to what the bartender is wearing, whether the floor will be carpeted or not, and which of the alcoholic beverages that they produce will win the actual commercial. Speaking of which…

10. Which beverage will win Molson Coors’ “The High Stakes Beer Ad” — COORS LIGHT or MILLER LIGHT or COORS BANQUET or VIZZY HARD SELTZER or BLUE MOON or FOSTERS?

THE HALFTIME SHOW

Note: For halftime show homework, be sure to check out my colleague Dan Santaromita’s look at the Super Bowl halftime show, acts, performers, and odds.

11. What will be the main color of Rihanna’s first outfit — BLACK or SILVER/GREY/WHITE or GOLD/YELLOW or OTHER?

Black +125
Gold +500
Silver/Grey +600
White +600
Green +650
Purple/Pink +800
Red +800
Yellow +800
For the sake of leveling the playing field, where black is the prohibitive favorite, I’ve consolidated the other colors to improve the odds.

12. What color hair will Rihanna have to open the show — BLACK or OTHER?

Black -500
No other color is listed at better +400 (which is for Blonde)
These odds come courtesy Betano Sportsbook

13. What will be the first song played during the halftime show?

DON’T STOP THE MUSIC or DIAMONDS or WHAT’S MY NAME or STAY or UMBRELLA or LIFT ME UP or WE FOUND LOVE or WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN or HIGHER or NEEDED ME or WORK or RUDE BOY or HATE THAT I LOVE YOU or UNFAITHFUL, or OTHER?

Don’t Stop The Music +300
Diamonds +500
What’s My Name +500
Stay +600
Umbrella +600
Lift Me Up +700
We Found Love +700
Where Have You Been +800
Higher +1500
Needed Me +1500
Work +1500
Rude Boy +1600
Hate That I Love You +2000
Unfaithful +2500
Our man Dan S. has you covered for Rihanna halftime prop prep, as he dives deeper into first songs , potential guests and more.

14. Who will be the first to make a guest appearance with Rihanna on stage: JAY-Z or DRAKE or A$AP ROCKY or NONE OF THEM?

Jay-Z collaborated on Umbrella, Drake collaborated on What’s My Name and A$AP Rocky collaborated with Rihanna on a baby boy, born May 13, 2022.

15. How many total songs will be played during the halftime show — OVER 9.5 or UNDER 9.5?

The halftime show usually clocks in between 12-15 minutes. Last year’s hip-hop ensemble ran right around 14 minutes in length and delivered a medley of 11 songs.
For Super Bowl LV, The Weeknd performed a total of nine songs for the halftime show.
For Super Bowl LII, Justin Timberlake delivered 11 songs. He’s the only solo artist headliner to hit double digits in total songs since Diana Ross hit 10 in Super Bowl XXX (January 28, 1996).
For the record, Rihanna has had 14 songs hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

THE GAME

16. Which team will score the first TD – EAGLES or CHIEFS?

BetMGM has the Philadelphia at -125
BetMGM has Kansas City at -105
BetMGM has “No Touchdown” at +10000

17. What will be the first penalty flag of the game (be it accepted or declined) – OFF. HOLDING or FALSE START or DEF. PASS INTERFERENCE/HOLDING or DEF. OFFSIDES/NEUTRAL ZONE INFRACTION or ROUGHING (the passer, the kicker or unnecessary roughness), or OTHER?

Here’s a link, courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference, detailing all 3037 penalties called in the 2022 regular season. The “field” is any other penalty not accounted for among the previously listed options, most notably Delay of Game, which was the fifth-most flagged penalty in 2022.
Offensive Holding (flagged 581 times, 19.1% of all penalties) and False Start (578, 19%) were the top two penalties called in 2022, and by a wide margin.
Defensive Holding (224) and Defensive Pass Interference (223) clocked in as third- and fourth-most among penalties, and combined for 14.7% of all penalties.
Defensive Offsides (139) and Neutral Zone Infraction (83) combined for 7.3% of all penalties
Roughing, in all its forms, combined for 7.6% of all penalties
The Field (all other penalties not accounted for) makes up 32.2% of all penalties, but accounts for only one (Delay of Game) of the Top 7 most commonly called penalties in the NFL in 2022 — Delay of Game has been the first flag in each of the past two Super Bowls.

18. Who will have a longer pass completion — JALEN HURTS or PATRICK MAHOMES?

BetMGM has set the longest completion Over/Under for both QBs at 37.5 yards, with Hurts at -115 on the over and Mahomes at -120 to the over. During the regular season, Hurts hit this over 14 times (in 15 games), while Mahomes hit the over 15 times (in 17 games).

19. Who will score a TD — JALEN HURTS or TRAVIS KELCE or BOTH or NEITHER?

Hurts (13 TDs) and Kelce (12 TDs) are both leaders in finding the end zone for their respective teams. Including two postseason games, Kelce has scored in nine of 19 games played, while Hurts has scored in 11 of 17 games.
You get a point for circling the correct answer, meaning that if you circle JALEN HURTS, but both Hurts and Kelce score, there is no point credited since BOTH was not circled.

20. Will a picture or video of the Kelce brothers, Travis and Jason, be shown during the Super Bowl game — YES or NO?

Like this one, maybe?

THE POST-GAME

21. What will the be the final score square in the Super Bowl Squares game? PHI _ KC _

Enter a number from 0-9 for each team, indicating what the last digit of each team’s final point total will be — i.e., if you think the final score will be Eagles 24, Chiefs 23, enter “4” for Philly and “3” for KC.
This question is worth up to two points, with a point for each correct guess.
In the 56 Super Bowls, the most common winning score ended in a “1” (10 occurrences) and the most common losing score ended in a “7” (13 occurrences)
Here’s an accounting of ending digits for final scores (combined for both winning and losing teams) in SB history: 7 (20), 1 (16), 0 (15), 4 (15), 3 (12), 6 (10), 9 (9), 8 (6), 5 (5), 2 (4, with all four occurrences being from the winning team)
Winning team “1” and losing team “7” is tied with winning team “4” and losing team “7” as the most common Super Bowl squares finishes, with each happening three times.

22. What color of Gatorade will be poured on winning coach — ORANGE or BLUE or GREEN/YELLOW/LIME or CLEAR/WATER or RED/PINK/PURPLE or NONE?

Green/Yellow/Lime +275
Orange +300
Blue +375
Red/Pink +500
Clear/Water +600
Purple +900
No Gatorade poured +1400
Odds via BetMGM
Since 2001, orange has been dumped on the winning coach five times (the most of any color). Blue clocks in tied for second (along with clear/water and none), with four. I combined purple with red/pink to improve that selection’s odds. Although normally green/yellow/lime would be a long shot (featured in just one of the past 10 Super Bowls), the inclusion of the Eagles, with green in their uniform and having been the winning team the only time in the past decade that green/yellow/lime was the Gatorade color in a Super Bowl (yellow Gatorade in 2018), has improved those green odds greatly for this year’s event.
Andrew DeWitt has you covered for more on the odds, best bets and history of the Gatorade shower.

23. Who will the MVP thank first — TEAMMATES or GOD/JESUS or CITY or COACH or OWNER or FAMILY or FANS or OTHER

“Other” would include not thanking anyone at all.
Cooper Kupp, last year’s SB MVP, thanked his teammates first, though it was a bit of a judgement call, as he opened by saying, “God is so good, just so thankful for the guys I get to be around…”

24. Which team will win the game — PHI or KC?

I was going to ask which team covers the spread but the line is so close to a pick’em, with BetMGM listing Philly at -1.5 as of early this week. Picking a winner makes it easier than having to explain a point spread to the non-bettors in your crowd.

Here’s the downloadable PDF. Good luck, everyone!

(Top photos: Getty Images — Mitchell Leff, Lester Cohen, Michael Owens)