Is the Chiefs field heated?
Yes!
The Chiefs invested $2.2 million to install a heating system under their field in 2016.
The project took three years to complete as engineers installed thousands of feet of pipe in the sand below the playing surface. Those pipes are fed with heated water from the stadium's boiler room, warming the field.
The boiler room is under the bleachers near the player's entrance tunnel. It was installed in 2014. It connects to the pipes which are laid out nine inches apart at a depth of nine inches.
The grounds crew in Kansas City will have begun the heating process days ago. By game time, the temperature of the soil should be around 50 degrees.
So even though Arrowhead Stadium will be colder than a freezer, the field itself will be relatively toasty. That's good for the players who have to run, jump and fall on that surface. It's one less thing they have to worry about. And if it snows, there shouldn't be much issue with seeing the lines on the field, nothing's going to stick. At most, frost may form on the tip of the grass.
The Chiefs finished the regular season at 11-6. They're a 4.5-point favorite over the Dolphins, who certainly aren't as acclimatized to this kind of cold as KC's players. How much of an edge will that give Patrick Mahomes and company? We'll have to find out.
