Denver’s favorite Serbian horse jockey and part-time basketball legend Nikola Jokic is off to a hot start this NBA season. The Nuggets All-Star center is averaging 28.8 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 11 assists through 8 games with no real signs of slowing down. The combination of off-season changes in the Nuggets roster, short-term injuries to other starters, and a collection of younger players like Christian Braun, Julian Strawther, and Peyton Watson working into the rotation, is forcing Jokic to play more minutes and more aggressively to pick up the slack. This unprecedented statistical start has Nuggets fans in a frenzy, but it could spell trouble for Denver area Wendy’s franchises.
Wendy’s has partnered with the Denver Nuggets by offering a free 6-piece chicken nugget (spicy or crispy) with any purchase after a Denver Nuggets player gets a double-double at home. A double-double is when a player records double digits in at least two statistical categories like points, rebounds, or assists. (A triple-double is when a player records double digits in three categories.) With Jokic already averaging a triple-double this early in the season, Wendy’s is on pace to give away a lot of chicken.
The Nuggets play 40 home games during the regular season with an average Ball Arena attendance of 19,684 fans at each game (’23-’24). Do the math and that’s a total of 787,360 fans throughout the season, not counting the playoffs. If every fan that attends claims the Wendy’s promotional offer, that’s 4,724,160 free chicken nuggets passing through the drive-thru window. At $3.49 per 6-piece order, that’s $16,487,318.40 in lost sales.
If Jokic continues this record-breaking pace, seeing how the fast-food chain handles the influx of Nuggets fanatics will be interesting. If you’ll recall, earlier this year, national seafood chain Red Lobster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to its $20 endless shrimp promotion, which, according to a Red Lobster spokesperson, “…creates a lot of chaos.” Are basketball fans rooting for Wendy’s to go bankrupt? If it means the Nuggets keep winning, they probably are.
