Three of four NFL Wildcard playoff games still not sold out

[Spidey]

People in the Green Bay area are being told to stay home from work. Schools are all closed Monday. I've lived up here for 25 years and I can't remember this kind of cold.

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I also live in GB and echo this sentiment. It is MF'n cold up here lately. Not sure its the coldest I have ever experienced here in my 30 years but it is up there. I know we set a new record low for one of the days this week when it hit -18, not including wind chill or anything. It is true some schools have already cancelled classes for Monday, not only in GB but in Milwaukee and Madison as well. Sadly, I have not been told to stay home from work yet.

In regards to the selling out issues. I think, as noted by others, this particular instance is a perfect storm of numerous factors that don't include the NFLs ridiculous ticket prices and diminishing live game experience. I am a season ticket holder and one of those that passed on the playoff tickets. I had one week to make a decision after the thanksgiving game. At the time, I never thought in a million years we would make it in. So I passed. It wouldn't have hurt me to do it anyway, I suppose, as it just goes toward next years tickets if they would have failed to make it. But at the time I didn't see a compelling reason to pay nearly $500 for something that seemed unlikely. When tickets were made available to me again this week, I passed largely due to the weather.

That said, I agree the NFL needs to take a long hard look at themselves, the game day experience, and ticket prices.

[ram29jackson]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2013/story/_/id/10239011/green-bay-packers-philadelphia-eagles-take-steps-battle-cold-snow

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Sunday's playoff contest in Green Bay could be one of the coldest NFL games ever played, rivaling the subzero temperatures of the legendary Ice Bowl of 1967.

Temperatures at Lambeau Field are expected to be minus-2 degrees when the Packers and 49ers kick off and are expected to drop as the night continues. At the so-called Ice Bowl, also in Green Bay, it got down to minus-13.







The Packers plan to pass out 70,000 hand warmers, packets that fit inside gloves or boots and stay warm for up to 10 hours. The team will also provide free coffee and hot chocolate.

Leon Perkins is a 49ers fan from temperate Stockton, Calif. He's going to the game and says he'll dress warmly and keep moving. He says the freezing temperature will make the game more memorable.

The Philadelphia Eagles also find themselves dealing with troublesome weather, as they have two to three million pounds of snow that needs clearing from their stadium complex ahead of Saturday night's game against the Saints.

The process of clearing the field began around 7:30 a.m. ET Friday, according to Jason Miller, the Eagles' vice president of facility operations.

"We bring approximately 600 workers in ... to remove the snow from all the stands, including the field," he said in a release. "We started clearing the stands at about 7:30 am. Hopefully by midnight tonight we'll be done. If not we'll be here later finishing it up. We're clearing all the stairs, the ramps, the seats, the inner bowl, the field, the plazas, the parking lots. Everything we have control over. It's a big, valiant effort."

Temperatures in Philadelphia are projected to be in the 20s with a wind chill in the teens.

Eagles quarterback Nick Foles has a better record than the Saints' Drew Brees in games played at or below 32 degrees. But 1-0, Foles' record, isn't much of a sample size. Neither, for that matter, is Brees' 2-3 mark.







"We've all played in that kind of weather before," Brees said. "Not on a consistent basis, but you kind of make preparations. You prepare as well as you can, at least mentally. Once you're there, it's football. It's about execution."

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 field hard as cement. The system was upgraded in 1997 to include 30 miles of heating pipes, so players on Sunday can expect softer landings