Football, frostbite and the within story of a ‘borderline inhumane’ NFL playoff evening

IN THE GRIPS of a polar vortex in Kansas City final winter, Matthew Maddux obtained a proposal the lifelong Chiefs fan could not refuse: one free ticket to hitch his buddy for the wild-card recreation towards the Miami Dolphins. The forecast referred to as for dangerously chilly climate, so Maddux did every part he may to arrange. He placed on ski gear, layers of sweatshirts, boots, a shawl, hat and a pair of thick gloves. He even purchased electrical hand heaters on-line. Maddux sat within the higher bowl, vacillating between elation and distress.

Wind chills reached minus 27, and the air temperature dipped to 4 beneath zero because the Kansas City Chiefs gained 26-7. On the journey dwelling, Maddux seen one thing wasn’t proper. He peeled off his gloves and his proper hand was ice chilly. He took an extended, sizzling tub when he acquired dwelling, however couldn’t heat up his hand. As the evening progressed, it swelled and throbbed with a lot ache he could not sleep. The subsequent morning, it began blistering, so he went to pressing care and was despatched to the University of Kansas Health System’s burn unit, the place he underwent a rigorous remedy to save lots of his fingers from frostbite.

“It feels such as you’re getting burned from the within out,” Maddux stated.

Maddux, 32, was considered one of dozens of individuals across the Kansas City space who felt the aftereffects of Jan. 13, 2024, the evening of the fourth-coldest recreation in NFL historical past. Dolphins offensive sort out Terron Armstead referred to as the situations “borderline inhumane.” An military officer who had undergone particular forces coaching for chilly climate attended the sport and stated it appeared “irresponsible” for the NFL to permit it to be performed. League officers stated they did their due diligence within the days main as much as the sport. But because the playoffs head into the divisional spherical this weekend with video games scheduled for cold-weather out of doors stadiums in Kansas City, Buffalo and Philadelphia, followers and gamers would possibly profit from the experiences of that evening one 12 months in the past.

Fifteen individuals who attended the sport have been taken to a hospital due to the chilly climate, in accordance with the Kansas City Fire Department. Nearly two months after the sport, experiences surfaced that some followers who attended the sport faced amputations. The story went viral.

The NFL has no minimal or most temperature at which video games will probably be canceled. NFL chief administrative officer Dawn Aponte stated the league’s medical specialists weighed whether or not the sport could possibly be performed safely, and discussions with native authorities in Kansas City led to the ultimate determination. The league stated it was not conscious of any extreme accidents associated to attendance on the recreation, in accordance with NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, and heard nothing to substantiate experiences of potential amputations. McCarthy stated one other consideration main as much as the sport was that Kansas City followers stay and play in excessive temperatures, “so that they’re accustomed to cold-weather video games and cold-weather actions.”

Maddux, for his half, would not query the NFL’s determination to play that evening. He figures the league needed to adhere to a strict schedule, and the folks within the stands have been conscious of the dangers. He had no thought he’d be compelled to spend 5 days within the hospital or an extended winter rehabbing. But he is aware of that with Mother Nature, issues can nonetheless go unsuitable even while you attempt to do every part proper.

“It’s a playoff recreation,” Maddux stated. “I suppose you possibly can say all of us love problem on the market, and simply being a part of the Arrowhead expertise. I imply, it is a one-of-a-kind place to go see a soccer recreation, a lot much less a playoff recreation like that.

“You need to be on the market to assist the workforce. I simply wished to go do it, merely put.”

REGULARS CALLED IT “Amateur Night” as a result of some folks within the stands did not appear to know the best way to costume for a January soccer recreation.

“I noticed a child in cowboy boots,” longtime season-ticket holder Catherine Baskett-Cook stated. “He did not have something between that concrete and his ft. So these are the folks the place you are taking a look at going, ‘All proper, you sacrificed some extremities for this recreation.'”

For the common fan who would not typically get to see a recreation in particular person, a lot much less a playoff recreation, it was a novel alternative. In the times main as much as the sport, ticket costs dipped as little as $30 (the most cost effective for Saturday’s divisional spherical is $158). Closer to kickoff, a few of these wild-card seats have been free.

It was like no different recreation in Arrowhead Stadium historical past. Tailgates have been scaled down, or scrapped, to keep away from being exterior too lengthy. Unless you have been Taylor Swift or another person within the luxurious suites, there have been few locations to hunt refuge from the weather.

Beers sprouted from aluminum bottles like frozen fountains. Hot candies froze within the time it took to get from the concession stand to the seats.

Season-ticket holder Annette Keeter retreated to the lavatory to run heat water on her palms. But the water was caught on chilly.

“People have been making an attempt to go to the warming stations,” Keeter stated. “The downside with these was that while you went to the warming station, it was so chilly that they actually weren’t placing out any warmth themselves.”

But Keeter and Baskett-Cook have been professionals at this. They layered up and introduced cardboard to slip below their ft to guard them from the chilly floor. They wore ski goggles and tried to cowl each inch of pores and skin. Keeter’s husband, Jason Johnson, forgot his goggles, which prompted his eyelashes to frost. When he touched them, she stated, the eyelashes fell off.

They stayed, regardless of their discomfort, regardless of hundreds of thousands of pixels that make modern-day dwelling viewing really feel as if you happen to’re within the huddle with Travis Kelce. They could not go away.

“Any given Sunday, something can occur,” Keeter stated. “I simply all the time really feel like I’ve to be there to root on my workforce. When that clock hits zero, that is when the sport’s over.”

Josh Stazen traveled 1,300 miles from his dwelling in Key West, Florida, that Saturday, buoyed by low-cost tickets and the love of his workforce. A local of the Kansas City space, Stazen prides himself on dealing with the chilly. He wearing duck-hunting gear and stated he felt “snug” all through the sport. But within the fourth quarter, after an extended spell with out a Chiefs landing, Stazen wished to rally the workforce. So he let loose a yell.

“Tarps off, boys!”

Stazen and his pals ripped off their coats and their shirts. About a half dozen of them stood bare-chested. Stazen estimated they have been shirtless for possibly two minutes.

One of his pals, Shawn Larson, seemed on the timestamps on photographs and stated it was truly 5 minutes. Stazen, who stated he did not drink a lot that evening as a result of he wished to recollect the sport, felt a pins-and-needles sensation on his uncovered pores and skin; Larson, who was consuming, stated he felt numb.

“When you get actually chilly and form of get numb while you heat again up, if it simply goes again to regular, nothing occurred,” stated Dr. James Miner, head of emergency medication on the University of Minnesota Medical School and a doctor at Hennepin County Medical Center. “As you heat again up, if it form of actually, actually begins to harm because it warms up, and it will flip purple for a second after which it turns crimson and aches and it might damage for a short while — normally no more than a half hour, hour — that we name frostnip.”

Miner described frostbite as when “your pores and skin and tissue beneath it simply freeze. Most of your physique’s made from water — like 60% water.”

The introduced attendance was 71,492, however close to the tip of the sport, the stadium appeared half-full. Isiah Pacheco‘s 3-yard landing run with simply over 11 minutes left within the recreation gave many Chiefs followers the arrogance to depart with a 26-7 lead.

Battalion chief Michael Hopkins stated the Kansas City Fire Department had 69 affected person contacts at Arrowhead Stadium, with 15 taken to the hospital. Seven folks had hypothermia signs, he stated, and three had frostbite signs.

Weeks after the sport, a Kansas City TV station reported that 70% of the sufferers on the Grossman Burn Center at Research Medical Center who have been referred for frostbite accidents in the course of the January chilly snap have been being suggested to schedule amputations. The station reported the vast majority of these sufferers attended the Dolphins-Chiefs recreation.

The story went viral, with headlines that stated many Chiefs followers wanted amputations. In correspondence lately shared with ESPN by the Associated Press, a spokesperson for the hospital advised the AP that data within the native TV report wasn’t correct. It included a press release from Dr. Megan Garcia, medical director on the Grossman Burn Center, saying the middle handled almost 30 sufferers and a number of other others of their outpatient clinic in the course of the 11-day chilly spell. “To date,” the assertion to the AP learn, “12 sufferers have undergone amputation(s) surgical procedures primarily impacting fingers and toes. Some of those sufferers attended the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Miami Dolphins recreation on Jan. 13.”

ESPN made a number of requests to Research Medical to talk with Garcia and for updates on these numbers. A spokesperson for the hospital stated in an electronic mail that Garcia was “not out there or considering discussing this subject additional, because it was broadly lined final 12 months.”

DURING A BREAK within the motion that evening in January, Dolphins defensive lineman Zach Sieler, waging a “psychological battle” by not carrying lengthy sleeves, approached umpire Ramon George and requested what number of layers he was carrying.

“Six,” George stated. “Two moist fits.”

Sieler lately advised ESPN he thinks he had frostbite for a few days, however he stated battling the weather was one of many issues he beloved about soccer whereas rising up.

“What you’re keen on and hate is you play by way of every part,” Sieler stated.

Even earlier than kickoff, it was obvious this wasn’t simply one other chilly recreation day.

“During warmups, your sweat would begin to freeze in your hair,” Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie stated. “I’ve by no means had ice in my hair earlier than.”

McDuffie stated he thought the situations have been harmful, “however you recognize nothing goes to vary, so you possibly can’t enable your self to suppose that manner. But you have been positively questioning, ‘What are we doing out right here?'”

Chiefs cornerback Joshua Williams stated he wore surgical gloves below his typical gloves. He additionally utilized Vaseline to uncovered areas “to attempt to block out a number of the wind and preserve it from piercing my pores and skin.” Williams, who stated a few of his teammates acquired frostnip in the course of the recreation, added that if he needed to do it once more, he would possibly don a wetsuit below his uniform.

“That day in Kansas City was the worst situations I ever stepped foot in. It was completely different. It was borderline inhumane.”

Terron Armstead

The NFL made extra lodging for the sport, together with heated benches and different heating gear, heavy jackets and parkas, gloves, hand heaters and fluids to assist keep away from dehydration. Additionally, the sphere was heated and tarped to stop the turf from freezing.

But even all that could not completely mitigate such frigid temperatures.

“It was actually the worst that you possibly can even think about,” Armstead stated. “And I’m from Illinois. I’ve been taking part in in snow my entire life rising up. I really like the chilly video games. I do. To me, December, January, that is soccer to me. I really like these video games. But that day in Kansas City was the worst situations I ever stepped foot in.

“It was completely different. It was borderline inhumane.”

Former Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl security Kam Chancellor can sympathize. Chancellor performed within the third-coldest recreation in NFL historical past when the Seahawks confronted the Minnesota Vikings in a 2016 wild-card recreation on the University of Minnesota throughout development of U.S. Bank Stadium. The temp was minus 6 with a wind chill of minus 25.

A couple of days after the Seahawks’ victory, Chancellor seen black marks on his fingertips and fingernails. He notified his workforce’s coaching employees members, who looped within the workforce’s docs to take a more in-depth look. The prognosis: frostbite.

“I had by no means had frostbite,” Chancellor advised ESPN in a current interview. “I used to be like, ‘Wait, are y’all going to chop my fingers off?'”

Such a drastic possibility was not out of the query, docs advised him. But after assessing the feeling in Chancellor’s fingers, docs decided he had sufficient good remaining tissue and his fingers could possibly be saved. But therapeutic was fairly the method. Chancellor stated it took two months earlier than his authentic colour returned and almost three months earlier than he regained all of his sensation. He additionally had in depth peeling of his pores and skin, and considered one of his fingernails fell off.

Chancellor puzzled how he had sustained the harm even whereas carrying gloves. But docs defined to him that sweat inside his gloves possible froze on his fingertips, leading to frostbite.

“You’re on the market taking part in in that chilly climate and also you’re on the market sweating,” he stated. “And then as soon as you are taking a timeout, you are standing or sitting down, now all that sweat is on you and it is chilly as hell. So, sweat makes it worse.”

NFL OFFICIALS MONITOR climate patterns at the least every week to 10 days upfront of scheduled video games. According to Aponte, every week, two to a few stadiums are reserved as alternate amenities within the occasion that video games must be moved due to climate or different circumstances.

And after final season’s experiences with the Dolphins-Chiefs recreation and the Steelers-Bills matchup that needed to be postponed due to harmful journey situations in snowy western New York, Aponte stated in mid-December that league officers deliberate to provoke conversations about climate contingencies for this postseason even sooner than typical.

The NFL lengthened the season in 2021 by including a seventeenth recreation, and commissioner Roger Goodell has broached the concept of including one other week. Under that situation, the Super Bowl could possibly be performed as late as President’s Day weekend, he stated final 12 months.

Extending the size of the NFL season would possibly exacerbate the frequency of video games performed in excessive temperatures, stated Mark Anderson, professor emeritus within the University of Nebraska’s division of earth and atmospheric sciences..

“They’re dragging extra into January, which goes to present you colder temperatures,” he stated.

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Last season’s wild-card recreation in Buffalo was postponed not due to temperatures however, slightly, as a result of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the NFL reached an settlement that the forecast of two ft of snow would make it dangerous for the hundreds of followers commuting to the sport.

Jazzlyn Johnson, a spokesperson for Kansas City, Missouri, mayor Quinton Lucas, confirmed the town labored with the NFL forward of the Chiefs playoff recreation to make sure there have been assets similar to ample first responders on the recreation. She emphasised that “climate extremes are usually not uncommon for Kansas City in reference to out of doors occasions.”

Meanwhile, groups are all the time evaluating their particular person approaches. The Green Bay Packers, for instance, have been recognized to concern steerage to followers that explicitly mentions the potential for frostbite. The workforce has provided free cider, sizzling chocolate and hand heaters throughout significantly chilly video games. There are additionally a number of climate-controlled areas all through Lambeau Field that followers can entry in the event that they want to heat up.

Still, that will not assure that followers will avail themselves of assets or observe recommendation.

Not all followers are going to be like Craig Keith, a U.S. Army officer who was stationed at close by Fort Leavenworth on the time of the sport. He and a pal, Drew Thomas, have been drawn to the concept of attending the sport due to the plummeting ticket costs. When prime lower-bowl tickets fell beneath $100, they pounced. The seats have been nice. Swift’s suite was just some rows behind them.

But earlier than shopping for the tickets, Keith and Thomas needed to resolve in the event that they have been outfitted to attend the sport. Keith was certified to find out this. He had undergone special-forces cold-weather survival coaching years in the past and cited that coaching as the rationale he felt snug going. He had been taught the hazards of extended publicity to such excessive temperatures and knew the best way to shield himself.

He defined his apparel intimately. His base layer was a moisture-wicking prime and socks. A thick, “steady” undergarment was additionally a should, he stated. Then he had a number of layers — together with pants — on prime of that, guaranteeing that every layer overlapped to maintain the wind out. The surplus Patagonia winter gear he had stored from his military coaching got here in useful.

Finally, Keith donned heavy-duty gloves and used a heated hand muff, lined his head and face with a gaiter and utilized a “shemagh” headdress he picked up whereas deployed in Afghanistan.

Keith added a key level: Much of his outfit couldn’t be placed on till arriving on the recreation due to the danger of sweating beneath in the course of the commute. The perspiration would have left him freezing as soon as he stepped into the chilly temperatures.

Ultimately, the strategy labored. He used one of many warming stations in some unspecified time in the future to heat his ft. But total, Keith stated, he was largely advantageous.

“I used to be fairly snug,” he stated.

He couldn’t say the identical for everybody.

“I feel the entire spectrum of preparedness was on show,” Keith stated.

He added, “It appeared irresponsible, in our opinion, for the NFL to even do that, particularly once we noticed Miami followers strolling up. There was no manner these of us are prepared in the event that they flew in for the sport.”

Afterward, Keith wrestled with blended feelings. On one hand, the lifelong Detroit Lions fan completely loved his first NFL playoff recreation expertise. But he puzzled if there is likely to be a price for some others.

“I would not commerce my good time for others getting damage,” he stated.

THE URGENT CARE clinic was down the road from Maddux’s dwelling, so he went there the day after the Chiefs recreation. His evening of ache had dragged on slowly, however on Sunday, time moved shortly. A health care provider examined him and referred to as the University of Kansas Health System, which had a hospital mattress out there for Maddux in its burn unit.

Within hours, he was administered a remedy referred to as tPA, a clot-busting drug that helps resume blood move to tissues earlier than they’re irrevocably broken. Frostbite instances are handled with an excessive sense of urgency, stated Dr. Richard Korentager, scientific service chief and chair of the division of plastic, burn and wound surgical procedure on the Health System.

“Different tissues have completely different talents to outlive after having suffered a chilly harm,” Korentager stated. “Muscle, for example, is extraordinarily delicate. So it is completely different if you happen to simply have, say, a finger versus you probably have an arm or you probably have a decrease leg.

“If you do not deal with these muscular tissues, if you happen to aren’t capable of get blood provide and get them warmed sufficiently shortly, you recognize, inside — typically it should be lower than an hour — earlier than there’s going to begin to be a level of long-term injury.”

For three days, Maddux needed to sit in an upright place within the hospital because the TPA medicine coursed by way of his system. He did not know whether or not he’d lose his fingers, or if he’d nonetheless do the issues he beloved — similar to {golfing} and taking part in softball. Roughly 5 days after the playoff recreation, Maddux’s radiology checks confirmed promising outcomes with the blood move in his hand. His fingers could be OK.

Dr. Julia Slater, the medical director on the burn heart who oversaw Maddux’s remedy, stated the rationale Maddux solely suffered frostbite on his proper hand could have had one thing to do with the watch he was carrying as a result of steel freezes sooner than pores and skin and conducts chilly from the steel to the pores and skin it is touching.

“This would make the hand carrying the steel watch colder,” Slater stated in an electronic mail. “Also, the watch was circumferential, and making use of elevated chilly all the way in which across the wrist could have led to vasoconstriction [narrowing] of the blood vessels on the wrist. This would end in much less blood move to the hand, making it extra inclined to frostbite.

“This is why we suggest eradicating any steel jewellery if you will be uncovered to very chilly temperatures.”

A Health System spokesperson stated the hospital had 73 encounters with frostbite/frostnip sufferers in January 2024, with 36 ER sufferers and 17 within the burn unit. None of their sufferers who attended the Chiefs-Dolphins recreation required amputations.

This previous summer time, Maddux performed softball and golfed. He has had a couple of manicures to form his once-gnarled fingernails. And within the fall, he returned to Arrowhead Stadium to look at the Chiefs. For early-season video games.

“Yeah … I do not actually need to return out to the chilly video games an excessive amount of,” he stated. “At least not for some time.”

Marcel Louis-Jacques, Adam Teicher and ESPN producer William Weinbaum contributed to this report.