With temperatures set to be in the lower 20s on Saturday in Kansas City, tonight’s playoff contest from Sporting Park will set records.
Temperature an hour before kickoff (7:30 p.m. on NBC SN) was 23 degrees. Brrrr!
According to Major League Soccer, it will be the coldest match since 2003, at least. It’s quite possible that no match has been held in colder conditions … the league only began recording game-time temperatures 10 years back.
(UPDATE, 6:54 p.m. ET: MLS executive vice president of communications Dan Courtemanche just messaged me via Twitter; he says he is confident this is, in fact, the coldest match in league history. But he’s double and triple checking, etc.)
The previous coldest recorded league match was early in the 2011 season, when Toronto FC and Portland met in Canada; kickoff temperature at that one was 26 degrees.
As for big games, temperature at kickoff of the 2009 MLS Cup match in Seattle (Real Salt Lake over the LA Galaxy) was 45 degrees. And raining, no less!
(MORE: Previewing Saturday’s playoff contest)
The inaugural MLS Cup match, at Foxboro Stadium in 1996, was played in 44 degree temperatures along with a steady downpour.
Kickoff mercury for the 2010 MLS Cup match in Toronto (Colorado over FC Dallas) was 45 degrees, but a fierce wind made that one pretty miserable, too.