The best college party in June is the one taking place in Omaha.
The College World Series is the ultimate destination for baseball fans. From across the country, fans travel to Omaha, Neb., to watch the final eight teams battle for the chance to be named a national champion.
But the College World Series champion isn't the only way a school can win in Omaha. There's another major competition that takes place every year, this one taking place outside the confines of Charles Schwab Field. And it really puts the exclamation mark on the party-like atmosphere of the College World Series.
That would be Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge. It is a longstanding tradition of the College World Series that has taken off in recent years due to the prominent leaderboard that tracks the progress of the event on social media.
MORE: Scores, schedule for 2024 College World Series
Here's everything you need to know about Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge?
What is Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge?
It is as simple as it sounds: It is a challenge to see which CWS team fanbase can take down the most Jell-O shots. Rocco's Pizza and Cantina is a local Omaha establishment just outside Charles Schwab Stadium.
The concept for the idea has its roots dating back to 2011, when Florida and South Carolina competed in the national championship. Fans of the two teams at Rocco's each wanted their own unique shots, so manager Pat McEvoy made them each shots, according to ESPN. He later took inspiration at a dueling piano bar that pitted fans of Creighton and Nebraska against each other over a basketball game, watching money go into tip jars as fans supported their teams against the other with their pocketbook. That led him to make signature shots for all eight teams in the College World Series each year.
Kevin Culjat later bought Rocco's, and in 2019, he decided to make them Jello-O shots since they are easy to make, per ESPN. In 2023, he hired Jevo to produce the Jell-O shots in mass with automated gelatin shot makers to account for the amount of shots made during the year.
The popularity of the challenge has only grown in recent years. McEvoy started a Twitter account tracking the Jell-O Shot Challenge to act as a leaderboard in 2022. The challenge is a major reason why 42 percent of yearly revenue comes from the College World Series, per ESPN.
Each Jell-O shot is sold for $5 with $1 from each shot going to a local food bank connected to the school and another 50 cents from each shot going toward the Heartland Food Bank in Omaha.
Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge record
As the challenge has grown in popularity, the number of shots has sky-rocketed. Ole Miss set a record in 2022 with 18,777 Jell-O shots during the tournament, a mark that was six times higher than the previous record.
Then LSU happened in 2023. The Tigers' fanbase set the new record of 68,888 Jell-O shots, more than three times as many as Ole Miss' record the year before. The next closest 2023 school was Wake Forest with 7,622.
Heroes get remembered but legends never die. This year will be talked about for ages. Thanks to the @LSUbaseball faithful and all the fans that made it fun. Thanks to @getjevo for making an absolutely absurd amount of delicious shots. Thank y'all for following along. pic.twitter.com/SmhKubGp7l
— CWS Jello Shot Challenge (@CWSShotBoard) June 27, 2023
A total of $142,464 was donated to food banks as a result of the Jell-O shot competition.
Who won Rocco's Jell-O Shot Challenge in 2023?
That would be LSU with 68,888 total Jell-O shots. That also meant $68,888 went to the LSU food bank.
The race for the top spot was not remotely close. Two programs finished with fewer than 1,000, and only LSU had more than 8,000.
- LSU: 68,888
- Wake Forest: 7,622
- TCU: 7,070
- Florida: 4,136
- Oral Roberts: 3,323
- Tennessee: 2,207
- Stanford: 912
- Virginia 872
The 2024 race already saw each team surpass 1,000 by early Sunday afternoon. And as Rocco's noted, each of the past three Jell-O shot winners have won the College World Series, which should make early leader Tennessee feel confident about the chance of breaking the No. 1 seed curse.
