Starting with the New York Giants in 1985, one of the most iconic Super Bowl traditions happens when members of the winning team dump a cooler or bucket of ice-cold Gatorade over their coach’s head. Beyond the fact that it’s, well, funny, one reason this tradition has become a mainstay is likely due to the current popularity of sports betting. Today, fans can bet on the final score, number of interceptions, or even the length of the National Anthem. So why not add one more predication?
Luckily, for those of us who have no interest in betting on the mechanics of the game itself, the Super Bowl Gatorade tradition doesn’t require any knowledge of the teams playing, or even football in general. Instead, bets are placed on what color Gatorade will be dumped on the coach. While other aspects of this silly ritual may gain some traction (for example, which players on the team will do the pouring or how many coolers will be dumped), the color is distinctly the most contentious.
If you’re wondering which Gatorade color you should be betting on for the winning team’s cooler drop, there’s actually a science to predicting which color will be featured each year. Whether you’re a sports bettor, a sports drink or football fan, or maybe just curious about this strange phenomenon, here’s how to predict this year’s Super Bowl Gatorade color for the infamous post-game dump on the winning coach.
What’s the most popular Gatorade color to dump on a coach?
The most popular Gatorade color for this tradition is categorically “clear” (which, while there is a clear Gatorade, apparently just refers to water), with eight total uses. This makes sense, as water is certainly the cheapest option. However, this hasn’t been used since 2008 (and it’s really not as fun). Since then, orange has slowly taken over as the most popular, with six total uses. Coincidentally, orange was the color that Jim Burt, defensive lineman for the New York Giants, used on head coach Bill Parcells back in 1985. However, it hasn’t been used since 2020 after a win by the Kansas City Chiefs. For their past two Super Bowl wins, the Chiefs used purple Gatorade both times. Last year’s Super Bowl winners, the Philadelphia Eagles, poured yellow Gatorade on their coach, the same color they used in 2017, perhaps because it’s closest in color to their green uniforms.
That being said, it seems like once a team picks a color, they like to stick to it, regardless of how many years apart their Super Bowl victories may be. That’s why, for an accurate prediction, keep in mind not only the statistical likelihood each team has to win, but what color Gatorade they may have poured in the past.
Let’s take the Seattle Seahawks, for example. While the team has made four Super Bowl appearances in its franchise history, they’ve only emerged victorious one time. After their win over the Denver Broncos in 2014, they stayed traditional and opted to dump orange Gatorade on their coach, Pete Carroll. The New England Patriots, on the other hand, are quite familiar with the concept of a Super Bowl win. But interestingly, out of six championship wins, the Patriots have only poured Gatorade two times (excluding water in Super Bowl XXXIX). However, the two times the team did seek out the sports drink, they used blue.
What determines the Gatorade color dumped on the winning Super Bowl coach?
There’s no clear-cut formula or mandate when it comes to choosing Gatorade colors. Rather than following patterns like “red Gatorade every five years,” there are a variety of reasons why different colors have been used in the past. From polling the whole team on their ideal color selection to whatever colors of Gatorade are left over after the game, it seems to be a relatively mysterious and sometimes random process. So, how do you make as accurate a bet as possible? In my opinion, it’s anyone’s guess, but there may be some context clues to keep in mind.
Given that it’s been 18 Super Bowls since water has been used to suprise a coach, it may be safe to say that budget-friendly tradition has ended, especially considering the amount of revenue the NFL made from the Tayvis relationship. So while orange is a safe choice, I’m waging my bets on blue. Although blue Gatorade has seemingly been a less popular color for dumping over time — the more popular the flavor, the less likely there will be any of it left over to dump on the coach at the end of the game — I still think it’s the right choice for Super Bowl LX.
Regardless of either team’s record, the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots sport navy blue as one of their main colors, making it applicable to both teams. And although the Patriots tend to go 50/50 on dumping Gatorade at all, a New England win would signify the first-ever victory for both a player and coach for the same team. A Gatorade pour for an inaugural milestone like that seems only a rite of passage.
But, alas, the only way to know for sure is to tune in on game day yourself!
This article was originally published on February 2, 2025. It was updated on February 3, 2026.