NFL
Is the Chiefs’ field heated? Arrowhead Stadium’s playing surface
Taylor Swift will need her “Cardigan” and plenty more, with Chiefs - Dolphins shaping up to be one of the NFL’s coldest ever games.
12 NFL teams are taking their first steps on the path to the 2024 Super Bowl LVIII on Wild Card weekend, which gets underway with the Cleveland Browns hosting the Houston Texans on Saturday and concludes with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers visiting the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday. However, excitement about the start of the playoffs has been tempered somewhat by weather conditions across the United States.
Bills - Steelers postponed due to New York storm
One game has even already fallen foul of the weather. Earlier on Saturday, New York governor Kathy Hochu revealed that, following discussions with the NFL and Buffalo Bills management, the clash between the Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers, scheduled to be played at Highmark Stadium on Sunday, had been postponed until Monday, with storms forecast to hit New York City, bringing heavy snow, high winds and low temperatures. A travel ban for Buffalo and the whole of Eerie County will come into force on Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET.
Chiefs - Dolphins: one of NFL’s coldest ever games
And there are (potential) problems elsewhere too. Last year’s Super Bowl winners the Kansas City Chiefs are due to host the Miami Dolphins later on Saturday on what is gearing up to be one of the coldest games in the history of the NFL.
Spare a thought for Taylor Swift - if she turns up to cheer on Travis Kelce - and the rest of the fans in attendance, who will need to wrap up warm with temperatures set to drop to negative-three degrees. But unlike followers of the Bills and the Steelers, they will still have a game to watch this weekend.
Chief’s undersoil heating system
While there could be some frozen fingers and toes - figuratively speaking - in the stands, there won’t be any out on the field, which has been heated in the days before kick off. The Chiefs installed a heating system worth $2.2 million under the field at Arrowhead Stadium in 2016 which means the playing surface should be around 50 degrees.
The Dolphins aren’t exactly used to such cold temperatures, but the only frostiness they can expect to encounter is from the home fans in Kansas City.
You can follow all the NFL postseason action on AS USA.