For all the excitement the first weekend of NFL games brought, the weather conditions at two stadiums grabbed as much of the spotlight as the Green Bay Packers upsetting the Dallas Cowboys.
In Kansas City, the Chiefs and Miami Dolphins played one of the coldest games in NFL history, as temperatures were forecast to be negative 5 degrees at kickoff. In Buffalo, where the Bills were scheduled to play the Pittsburgh Steelers, the game was postponed from Sunday to Monday as a lake effect snowstorm dropped upwards of 3 feet of snow in the Buffalo area. While snow games are popular with fans (especially if you’re watching on TV and not in the stands), playing the contest during a blizzard would have compromised first-responders and safety teams in the event of emergencies.
From a facilities standpoint, some good questions could be raised about how the teams were able to prepare their stadiums for games being played in such dangerous conditions in front of thousands of fans.
In Kansas City, while fans bundled in layers and more than a dozen were hospitalized with frostbite or hypothermia symptoms according to USA Today, the franchise installed a heating system under the playing surface worth $2.2 million in 2016. The design of the system, according to the website AS, allows the surface to be around 50 degrees regardless of the frigid air conditions. Thousands of feet of pipe are installed under the playing surface that connects to the boiler room. The system starts up when the temperature gets to a certain level and takes a few days for it to warm up.
Buffalo’s issue was removing massive amounts of snow from its stadium’s seats and field. At one point the Bills offered fans $20 an hour to help dig out the stadium, but the fans’ best efforts fell short as the snowfall was too much for the fans to handle, so the team instituted a “sit where you feel like it” for the Monday game. (Whether a franchise that’s worth billions of dollars couldn’t pony up to hire a contracted company to handle this is another story for another day).
But fear not, Bills fans. The team recently broke ground on a new $1.54 million stadium and according to WDPH, the outdoor stadium is being designed with a heating system that will keep those seats warm through the storm and with a canopy designed to protect 65 percent of the seats from snow. The Bills’ new stadium is scheduled to be ready in 2026.
Meanwhile, the fans who attended this game in 1967 are saying this weekend’s games were played in balmy conditions.
Dave Lubach is executive editor for the facility market.
