Chiefs ‘Fan of the Year’ offers tips for surviving a freezing Arrowhead Stadium

WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) — The forecast’s “rock bottom” temperatures are leading to some “rock bottom” ticket prices for Saturday’s Chiefs game in Kansas City. Ticketmaster lists some tickets for as little as $60. It’s cheap enough to tempt fans into braving what could be one of the coldest games in NFL history. 

Kelly Kennedy, Chiefs fan of the year, has been a season ticket holder for 29 seasons. He says there’s no chance the weather will keep him and his crew away from Arrowhead this Saturday. 

Kennedy and his friend Steve Crum are no strangers to an “ice-cold” Arrowhead Stadium. They know how to stay as warm as possible. Crum says his strategy begins before he even enters the stadium.

“Layer up, and before you go into the game, make sure you don’t have all your layers on because, if you do, by the time you get up there, you’ll be cold. Try to leave a couple of layers off; layer up at the end of your tailgating,” said Crum. 

He wears about seven layers. Kennedy also bundles up using a heated jacket and a hand pouch, just like the players on his favorite team. Once you’re inside, Kennedy says to stay active. 

“Keep moving, even if it’s just moving your feet in place and keeping the blood flowing. My eyebrows and eyelashes froze, and you wipe your face, and there are ice crystals on your gloves, and so we just had to keep moving,” said Kennedy. 

Another tip from these “seasoned” pros: think outside the box, or in this case, a cardboard box. 

“We take a piece of cardboard in, so we can stand on it, so it’s between our feet and the snow or the cement that holds that cold in there,” said Kennedy. 

They don’t like to miss a snap, but Kennedy says restroom breaks, even if you don’t need to go, come in handy. 

“We don’t leave our seats very often, the bathrooms are warmer, and there are a lot of people that go and stand in the bathrooms to get that heat,” said Kennedy. 

He adds that if you plan on grabbing a “cold one,” you might want to drink it fast.

“Guy came down with an alcohol beverage from the concession stand and straight from the concession stand to his seat, and his drink was slush,” said Kennedy. 

Kennedy and Crum said they’d have the “Arrowhead Express Bus” out for tailgating, and they encouraged anyone attending the game to stop by, say hello, and get warm. 

A Chiefs rep told KSN on Wednesday that they will have nine warming stations within the stadium and warming trailers available in lots used for tailgating. 

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium and will be streaming exclusively on Peacock.

“We join all Chiefs fans in their disappointment that NBC and the NFL have negotiated a deal to stream this weekend’s game on Peacock,” Steve South, KSN-TV vice-president and general manager. “Our choice would obviously be to have the game free and over the air on KSNW, but this option was not made available to us. Neither our company, the station or the NBC station affiliate board was consulted on this decision.”