Ice Packers prepare for freeze

Supporters and players are braced for the chill at Lambeau Field in Green Bay play-off clash against San Francisco.

Green Bay Packers fans are used to cold temperatures. AFP

The Green Bay Packers’ play-off game today against the San Francisco 49ers could be one of the coldest in NFL history, rivalling the subzero temperatures of the 1967 Ice Bowl.

Temperatures at Lambeau Field are expected to be minus 2°F (minus 19°C) when the Packers and 49ers kick off.

By the fourth quarter it will be a bone-chilling minus 7°F (minus 21°C), with wind chills approaching minus 30°F (minus 34°C), according to the National Weather Service.

Temperatures at the so-called Ice Bowl in Green Bay, the 1967 NFL championship game in which the Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys to advance to Super Bowl II, got as cold as minus 13°F (minus 25°C) with a wind chill of minus 46°F (minus 43°C).

At temperatures like the ones expected today, exposed skin can get frostbitten in minutes and hypothermia can set in. Players will be huddling around giant heaters on the sidelines, but fans will have to take extra safety measures, such as dressing in layers and sipping warm drinks.

The Packers plan to pass out 70,000 hand warmers, packets that fit inside gloves or boots and stay warm for hours. The team will also provide free coffee and hot chocolate.

Kellie Kunz, a Packers fan from Illinois, will be attending her first Green Bay game. She said the opportunity to see her team in a critical play-off game was just too good to pass up.

“We’ll dress warm – down jacket, long underwear, fleece-lined tights,” said Kunz, who grew up in Wisconsin. “I’m just hoping the game is going to be so exciting we won’t even notice the freezing cold.”

Lambeau Field has a heating system buried beneath the turf to keep the field from freezing, but it failed during the Ice Bowl, leaving the sod hard as cement. The system was upgraded in 1997 to include 30 miles of heating pipes, so players today can expect softer landings.

The field should be relatively clear today, with no snow in the forecast. The stands had been filled with snow during the week, but the team, continuing a popular tradition, invited members of the public to help shovel it for US$10 (Dh36.7) per hour.

The 1967 game took a major toll on players, said Ed Gruver, the author of a book called The Ice Bowl: The Cold Truth About Football’s Most Unforgettable Game.

Vince Lombardi, the Packers coach, refused to let most of his players wear gloves, so several, including quarterback Bart Starr, suffered varying degrees of frostbite, Gruver said. One Cowboys player had respiratory problems attributed to breathing in so much frigid air, he added, and Dallas quarterback Don Meredith’s calls were inarticulate because his lips were frozen.

“Now players wear Under Armour. They have gloves; they have these giant heaters. They’ll be OK,” Gruver said. “Back then, most of them just wore long johns.”

Improved clothing should help the fans, too. Modern down jackets fight the cold, and waterproof boots and gloves keep hands and feet dry.

That is what 49ers fan Leon Perkins from California is counting on. The 30-year-old lorry driver goes to every 49ers home game and the minute he found out his team was playing in Green Bay, he jumped online and bought tickets.

Packers tickets can be notoriously hard to come by, so Perkins was pleasantly surprised to pay only $147 apiece for two. Ticket sales were uncharacteristically slow because of the forecast, and the game did not sell out until midday on Friday.

When Perkins found out he might be attending Ice Bowl II, his enthusiasm was dampened only briefly.

“I’ll be able to tell my kids and grandkids I was part of that game,” said Perkins, who bought a hunting coat and thick gloves in preparation. “I’m just hoping my 49ers are gonna give me the opportunity to keep jumping up and down and screaming and keeping the adrenalin pumping.”

* Associated Press