By Ryan “The Goose” Gosiker
The NFL Playoffs began this past weekend. Games were exciting and surprises shined through the likes of CJ Stroud and Jordan Love. Both are rookies who played perfectly in their 1st playoff games. However, above their spectacular play, was the conversation of weather. In Kansas City, the defending Super Bowl Champion Chiefs steamrolled the Miami Dolphins 26-7. The temperature during the game was roughly -4 degrees with a wind chill of near -30 degrees. One team looked accustomed to those temperatures and the other looked ready to head back to Miami Beach. The other game effected by weather was the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills. The game was moved from Sunday at 1pm to Monday at 4:30pm due to 65 mph winds mixed with 1 to 2 feet of snow. There was a travel ban and NY Governor Kathy Hochul announced the game would be moved. There were arguments online all weekend about teams being soft for moving games, the concerns of playing in such frigid temperatures, and why it does not match the NFL’s player safety message. Some groups of people have called for all stadiums to have a dome roof. Obviously, the warm weather areas like Los Angeles the Texas teams should not have to have this roof. I do not plan to sit on one side of this argument and scream my head off. I believe there is room for compromise in this scenario. New stadiums should have retractable roofs on them, especially in markets with bad weather like Buffalo or NJ or Kansas City. The argument against any rule is that the way the stadium is currently constructed, it creates a challenge and homefield advantage for teams like the Chiefs and Bills. It used to be a huge advantage for the Giants playing the Meadowlands with the nasty, swirling winds during the winter months. I agree with wanting to create that advantage, but a retractable roof would allow teams, in case of emergency, to close the roof. That does not mean they have to turn on the heat, but it is near impossible to play through multiple feet of snow like we saw in Buffalo. The Bills, then, tried to hire shovelers for $20 an hour to clean the stadium. You could avoid that all together. Also, I saw this in Kansas City, the field is heated and was sitting at 50 degrees while the area was in the negatives. All bad-weather teams should be required to have that. Completely removing the outdoor elements removes the fun out of some of these games, but severe weather can be met with compromise to not put players, coaches, fans, and officials at risk for a football game. Check out my sports show: “Game Time with The Goose” every Saturday from 8:00 to 9:00 AM on WTBQ AM 1110 FM 93.5 and on WGHT Radio with co-host Zach Kruk, Sports Director of WTBQ and WGHT!
