On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles faced off in Super Bowl LIX, ending with an Eagles victory of 40-22.
While Boston University students had the opportunity to watch the game at places like Kilachand Hall and the George Sherman Union, many dorms were quiet this year, leading some students to be surprised by the low turnout across campus.
Sophomore Julia Schultze watched the game from her dormitory in The Towers, but said she expected more students at the watch party.
“We came down, we saw they had the TV set up, so it’s just kind of nice to sit and be around people and watch the game,” Schultze said. “I feel like a lot of people here are from Philly, there’s not a lot of people from Kansas City, but I feel like people care about football and sports in general.”
Schultze added that the low turnout for the campus watch parties could be because most students who are over 21 years old were watching from sports bars.
“The ability to drink and go out definitely influences if [students] are going to stay on campus or not,” Schultze said.
Kilachand Hall’s watch party was hosted by the building’s Resident Assistants, complete with pizza, Wingstop and a big-screen TV.
“I really wanted to watch the game and I don’t have a TV in my dorm,” said freshman Peter Stewart. “This is the biggest and closest thing we could do.”
The BU Sports Business Club and the BU Sports Analytics Group hosted a dual watch party in the George Sherman Union Backcourt, with food, games and a prize giveaway for attendees.
Sophomore Marie Pacini, president of the BU Sports Analytics Group, said the club is focused mainly on teaching the community and sports fans about sports analytics.
“We’re hosting this event as an announcement of our club because we’re pretty new,” Pacini said. “Also, because we wanted to get everybody together in the new semester, watch the Super Bowl, have some fun and bring together the sports fans at BU.”
Sophomore Gracie Davenport, president of the BU Sports Business Club, said the club was created to “unite students who are interested in working in the sports industry, ” because there are no “sports-specific majors” at BU.
While the campus watch parties were intended to bring together supporters of both teams, rivalry and competition remained.
“I’m cheering for the Eagles because I hate the Chiefs,” Stewart said. “Go Eagles!”
Editor-in-Chief Brendan Galvin is an executive board member of BU Sports Business Club. He was not involved in the writing, reporting or editing of this article.
