Our long national nightmare is finally over. The Wing Bowl is making a comeback.
After a seven-year hiatus, one of sports radio’s most outrageous traditions is returning, but this time, it’s leaving Philadelphia behind. The next installment of the infamous chicken wing-eating contest is set for February 7, 2026, at the Plaza Hotel & Casino Showroom in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For the first time in its history, the Wing Bowl is leaving Philly.
The last Wing Bowl to date took place pre-pandemic in February 2018, when Molly Schuyler tore through a staggering 501 wings in 30 minutes to win her third title. Not long after, Angelo Cataldi announced the party was over. With the Eagles finally winning a Super Bowl, WIP pulled the plug, and in doing so, may have spared itself from being canceled for hosting it.
The event originally launched in 1993 as a tongue-in-cheek way to give Philly fans something to celebrate during another Super Bowl-less winter. What started as two guys eating wings in front of 150 people eventually grew into a sold-out spectacle featuring strippers, floats, full-on parades, and frenzied fans filling the Wells Fargo Center before sunrise.
Now, it’s coming back, just in a new home.
And that comes just a year after the 2024 documentary titled No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story.
According to the event website, Wing Bowl 2026 will feature 20 competitors battling through three rounds of time-based wing-eating trials. Both amateur and professional eaters are expected to compete, with qualifying events set to begin next week in Las Vegas and additional rounds scheduled for Philadelphia. The event will be livestreamed, with $5,000 in prize money at stake. FOX 5 Las Vegas anchor Mike Davis will handle play-by-play duties for the broadcast.
Per Crossing Broad, Audacy is currently leasing out the “Wing Bowl” trademark. As for 94 WIP, the station hasn’t officially acknowledged the event’s return and has yet to respond to requests for comment from Barrett Media.
But whether they’re involved or not, the Wing Bowl is back. Just don’t expect to find it on Pattison Avenue anymore.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.