Marcus Spears taking on home cooks in fried chicken sandwich contest (2024)

For ESPN’s Marcus Spears, food has always been important.

He spoke to AA about that last year around his partnership with Louisiana Fish Fry, where he’s been named the company’s “Chief Fry Officer.” Part of that partnership has involved Spears unveiling recipes, including for a “Big Swagu Chicken Sandwich” (which has received nearly three million views on SoYummy) as part of their branching out into chicken coatings. And now that sandwich is going to go head-to-head with those created by fans across the country, with a trip to New York for the finals and a trip to Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans in February for the winner on the line.

Louisiana Fish Fry recently announced the Louisiana Fried Chicken Sandwich Challenge, promoting its product as a cheaper and tastier alternative to the rising costs of fast-food chicken sandwiches. The challenge is going to see events in six markets across the country, starting Wednesday in Los Angeles. The winner from each will head to New York in October to take on Spears and his sandwich, and the ultimate champion there will get a “golden skillet,” a VP of Chicken title, a trip to the Super Bowl, and a year’s supply of Louisiana Fish Fry products. Here’s more from a release on just what this will involve:

To prove just how easy, affordable, and delicious it is to fry chicken at home, the Challenge will take place around the country in six markets, where local home chefs are called to submit their best fried chicken sandwich creation online. The top five sandwiches selected in each market will be invited to a live event, where judges and audience votes will decide on a Finalist who will then get the chance to compete live in the New York City finale in October, for the ultimate attempt to dethrone The Big Swagu Chicken Sandwich.

…As guests enter each venue, they will encounter the “Hall of Shame,” an immersive walk-through memorializing the casualties of the fried chicken sandwich wars: the high costs of chickinflation and the underwhelming fried chicken sandwiches offered by leading fast-food chains. From there, guests will step into a wonderland of crispy, crunchy, creative, and convenient home-cooked, skillet-fried chicken sandwiches created by home chefs. Here, guests will be able to grab a bite of all competing sandwiches and vote for their favorite. In each location, a local hero influencer will guide guests through the event, lasting for a flavor-filled two hours.

Finalists from each market will be awarded a three-day, two-night trip to New York City in October, where they will compete for the coveted golden skillet trophy live and in-person under the final judgment of Marcus Spears, Louisiana Fish Fry representatives, and special guests. In addition to the golden skillet, the ultimate champion will serve as VP of Fried Chicken alongside Marcus Spears and join the brand next February for football’s biggest game, to be played in New Orleans. And, it goes without saying – the winner will receive a year’s supply of Louisiana Chicken Fry products.

That release also has quite the quote from Spears:

“Game on! It’s all about the work, and I’m excited to take on the competitors trying to defeat my Big Swagu Chicken Sandwich in NYC. I’m ready to represent that Louisiana flavor alongside Louisiana Fish Fry,” saidMarcus Spears. “The competition to become the new fried chicken champion will be intense… we’ll see which sandwich is Swagu-approved!”

Here’s a look at that “Big Swagu” sandwich:

Spears is certainly far from the first media personality to strike a deal promoting a particular food brand. But he does bring a lot to this Chief Fry Officer role. That includes his love for food (which has regularly come up on air, including with Kansas City barbecue, part of the authentic approach to broadcasting that he’s been celebrated for). He’s put out lots of recipes on the brand website, including for this sandwich and for “Swagu Special” fried fish.

Spears has long been proud of his cooking, too. At one point on First Take, he even spoke about possibly inviting Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim, and Chris Russo to his family Thanksgiving dinner (but added “We’re not making anything healthy“). And around the announcement of his partnership with Louisiana Fish Fry (a brand he said has been used in his family for a long time, going back to his grandmother) in 2023, Spears told AA he’s loved getting to show off his foodie side and his cooking skills with this deal:

“I cook a lot. I’m mostly a grill guy, but my history is African-American family from the South, Louisiana grandmother, mother, holiday gatherings, family gatherings. That’s just as much a part of the fabric of who I am as football, as anything I’ve done that the public knows about.

“I still cook, I fry fish, it’s a top-three favorite food. But we have ways of doing it where I’m from, and Louisiana Fish Fry’s a part of that. But it’s also a part of just the culture that I grew up in, a lot of great women and men that could cook, didn’t own restaurants, weren’t world-famous, but I think if the world would have tasted their food, they would have become world-famous.

“…It feels good, because it’s who I am. A lot of the time when you play football, you get pointed in a direction where this is all you do. But the expansion of my foodieism, and really understanding what I know, it’s something I’ve always been interested in. Anthony Bourdain was a guy I watched so much, and the Netflix series about alcohol was phenomenal, and then Somebody Feed Phil is my most recent.

“But I’m an Andrew Zimmern guy, an Anthony Bourdain guy, I like food, and cooking, and the cultural experience around it. I was able to travel with a lot of those guys wherever they went and see how food is similar, to me, to music, in how it’s communal and how people respond to it. Even when they have differences, it’s something that can bring people together. And I enjoy that aspect of it.”

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A post shared by Marcus Spears “Swagu” (@mspear96)

We’ll see how this competition goes, and how the regional winners’ sandwiches fare against Spears’ “Big Swagu.”

[PR Newswire; images from Louisiana Fish Fry and from Marcus Spears on Instagram]

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