By Sunday evening, the chances are that either Andy Reid or Nick Sirianni will be drenched in Gatorade. The traditional ‘Gatorade shower’ has its roots in the NFL but is now a common sight in championship games across the United States.

It’s been seen in Super Bowl triumphs and World Series wins, right down to the Little League World Series. Last year Chiefs head coach Andy Reid got a barrel of purple Gatorade dumped on him and he will, if rather reluctantly, be hoping for a similar outcome this Sunday.

But while the Gatorade shower is a common sight, its origins are not common knowledge. It’s generally accepted that the first coach to be on the receiving end of a cooler of sports drink was legendary New York Giants head coach Bill Parcells, who won two Super Bowls with the team in the 1980s.

What are the origins of the Gatorade shower?

The famous incident actually came in a regular season game in October 1984, when the Giants managed a statement 37-13 win over the defending NFC champions Washington Redskins. Parcells had reportedly been hard on Jim Burt in practice that week and the Giants nose tackle took revenge shortly after the game.

Burt was the first to dole out a Gatorade shower but teammate Harry Carson took the idea and ran with it. It was Carson who continued the tradition from then on and through the 1986 championship-winning season Carson marked nearly every Giants win with a Gatorade shower.

The practice gained national prominence when it was featured on the CBS coverage of the playoffs and the tradition grew from there. For their part in the boundless free advertising, Carson and Parcell went sent $1,000 gift vouchers by Gatorade.

Gatorade shower becomes big business

In the past 40 years the Gatorade shower has grown from bizarre celebration into a nation-wide tradition. In recent years, the exact flavour on Gatorade in question has become a big pregame preoccupation.

Sports fans can now bet on the colour of the sports drink used in those post-Super Bowl celebrations and it draws a remarkably large interest. ESPN reports that betting on the Gatorade colour is now a million-dollar market, despite the fact that the only US states to allow the wager are New Jersey, West Virginia and Illinois.

A wide range of factors are considered by participating bookmakers ahead of the Super Bowl each year. The ESPN BET trading team explained: “When setting odds for this market, our team looks at a variety of factors, including what color was poured on last year’s winning coach, any recent instances of the participating teams doing a Gatorade bath, such as recent Super Bowl appearances or after a conference championship win, and even the color of the team’s jerseys.”

So what is the favourite for the 2025 Gatorade drench? The favourite throughout the betting has been purple and the line has dropped from +350 to +225. Purple is the same colour that was thrown over Reid after last year’s game, perhaps a positive omen for the Chiefs.

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