Super Bowl Gatorade Color History & Everything You Need to Know

The Super Bowl brings with it a metric ton of opportunities for fans and casual viewers to throw money on some bets.

For some, analyzing the rosters and schemes for hours is half the fun. So those people tend to gravitate toward more traditional bets.

But for others, Super Bowl betting is more about fun than anything else. That only means one thing: prop bets.

More often than not, the stranger the better. Things like the length of the “Star-Spangled Banner” performance, the results of the pregame coin toss and selecting the first player to score a touchdown.

However, one tends to be more popular than the rest: The Gatorade color in the winning team’s coolers. Well, to be specific, the Gatorade which is dumped on the winning coach. (Most teams have two different Gatorade flavors on the sideline, FYI).

So which color gives you the best chance at winning? And why do the winning teams douse their head coach anyway?

Let’s break it down.

The Origin of the Gatorade Shower Tradition

The Gatorade shower all began with the New York Giants.

In 1984, Bill Parcells was on the hot seat. The second-year head coach was coming off a disastrous 3–12–1 season in 1983 and was sitting at 3–3 when he told his players that if the team lost, he’d be fired.

The Giants won, but two weeks later were sitting at 4–4. In an attempt to rally the team, Parcells took aim at nose tackle Jim Burt throughout the week. Parcells ruthlessly picked on Burt, talking up how good Washington’s center (Rick Donnalley) was and keeping Burt on the field for additional “drills.”

These were mostly Burt attempting to fight through double teams. After one practice, Parcells had Burt hold dumbbells in both hands and punch a padded locker room wall. Parcells told Burt it was to simulate the hand action while coming out of his three-point stance.

In reality, it was a show. It was a message to the rest of the roster. Win the game.

Burt took everything Parcells dished out and the Giants destroyed Washington 37–13. As the clock hit zero, Burt grabbed the large, orange Gatorade cooler on the sideline and dumped it over Parcells.

By 1986, the Gatorade shower was a massive part of the television broadcast. Giants linebacker Harry Carson would douse Parcells after a victory, and there were plenty of them. New York went 14–2 and John Madden would often use his famous telestrator on replays to break down the shenanigans.

The first Super Bowl Gatorade bath came in 1987 at Super Bowl XXI. Near the end of the fourth quarter, CBS producers were instructing cameramen to keep an eye on the Giants bench and Gatorade.

Gatorade Shower Colors in Super Bowl Since 2001

Since 2001, orange has been the most popular color for a Gatorade shower, occurring five times. Blue and clear are tied with four apiece. On four occasions, there was no Gatorade bath. Purple and yellow have each appeared three times.

In a 2014 post on Twitter/X, Gatorade said its top-selling flavors are Lemon-Lime (yellow), Fruit Punch (red), Orange, Glacier Freeze (blue) and Cool Blue. Yet, red Gatorade hasn’t been seen at the end of a Super Bowl in more than 25 years.

Of course there’s no telling what color will appear at the conclusion of Super Bowl LIX. Some teams select a color/flavor based on superstition. Some teams poll the players and use their favorite. It all depends on the situation.

History can be a bit of a tell, though. The Kansas City Chiefs have dumped purple Gatorade in each of their last two Super Bowl victories. For what it’s worth, Bet MGM had nearly 35% of all bets placed on orange for Super Bowl LVIII.

Bet responsibly.