How To Win A Year's Worth Of Free McDonald's Cheeseburgers

Today marks the final day of McDonald's 50 Burger Sweepstakes. Having begun on November 12th, the Sweepstakes offers 50 $720 checks for McDelivery Cheeseburgers to the first 50 people who post a Tweet tagging @McDonalds, @DoorDash, #McDelivery, and #Sweepstakes after an NFL game in which one side breaks 50 points. The rules state clearly and in bold that the post must be made after the game ends, not when a team manages to break that barrier.

Following that, there is a series of more regular restrictions, such as how no one affiliated with or in any way related to someone affiliated with McDonald's as recently as June 1st can enter, along with the various things you cannot include with your entry Tweet. 

However, as Steven John of Eat This, Not That! notes, no team in any game this season has actually scored more than 50 points. The closest was when the Cleveland Browns beat the Dallas Cowboys 49 to 38. Tonight, though, the final game of the sweepstake period is between the Los Angeles Rams and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With any luck, this match will resemble last year's in which their combined total reached 95 points, with the Buccaneers winning with 55 to the Rams' 40 (via Buccaneers.com). If either team does manage to play as well as they did last year, you have until 9 a.m. on November 24th to enter your tweet.

The whole concept of a year's supply, which is how we at Mashed and Eat This, Not That! describe the sweepstakes, is a bit weird. As Slate explains in a piece about what a year's supply actually means, it means whatever the company wants it to mean as long as it's considered reasonable. For instance, a coupon that covers 52 meals counts as a year's supply because if you go once a week, the coupon will last you for a year. Assuming the $720 coupon can only go for cheeseburgers, which Fast Food Price pegs at $1.19 each, then you can easily buy a burger a day and then some.

Of course, very few will order just a cheeseburger from McDonald's. That is probably half the point of even offering a year's supply. Like the Kitchn's description of Costco and their rotisserie chickens, McDonald's can be sure that a year's supply would serve as a loss leader. The dollar lost on burgers will come through by encouraging winners to order more regularly. 

The other reason presumably is to boost brand awareness and engagement. Gallup's research shows that actively engaged customers of a fast-food franchise make 28 percent more visits a month than disengaged ones. So, even if no team manages to score 50 points, McDonald's still wins by not having to fulfill their promise while simultaneously promoting themselves in people's minds.

For now, all that's left is to see if the Buccaneers pull off a repeat.