It’s going to be cold on Thursday at Arrowhead but you wouldn’t have it any other way. The Kansas City Chiefs will be hosting the Oakland Raiders for Thursday Night Football and the environment should be insane. Not only because this is a huge game but because the Arrowhead gates open at noon. That’s seven and a half hours before game time.
Seven. And. A. Half. Hours.
“What we’re trying to do is get people off the road…We’re going to open our stadium gates at Noon.” - Chiefs president Mark Donovan
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) December 5, 2016
Arrowhead is going to be absolutely bonkers. There will be open parking at noon and then at 1 p.m. the parking attendants will be out to direct traffic.
(Now that I’m a parent I also feel compelled to say please be safe. That is a long, long time to be out there in the cold and a lot of time to booze it up. Please be safe)
They’re calling for snow on the Wednesday before the game. Depending on how much falls, we could see some on the ground for tailgating. It’s probably not going to melt because Thursday’s forecast calls for a high of 25 and a low of 13.
Football weather.
Here’s game day info from the Chiefs press release:
Due to the normal weekday rush hour traffic, fans traveling to Arrowhead Stadium will experience increased traffic throughout the metro area compared to normal Sunday gameday traffic patterns. To create the best possible experience, parking gates will open at noon and the club is encouraging all fans to arrive as early as possible to avoid being on the roads during the heaviest traffic periods throughout the day. Fans should follow both the Missouri Department of Transportation and the Kansas Department of Transportation on their social media accounts – including@MoDOT_KC and @KansasCityKDOT on Twitter and MoDOT Kansas City and KDOT on Facebook – for updates on road and traffic conditions. To avoid additional delays and save money, fans should visit www.chiefs.com/parking to purchase their parking pass in advance and set their parking gameplan.
For the first hour of parking from noon to 1 p.m., fans will be able to “open park,” allowing them to park in their preferred spot in any approved grass areas or Lots C, D, F, G and the perimeter of Lot N as long as it matches the parking pass they have purchased. Once open park ends at 1 p.m., cars will be directed to the next available spot as they are for all Chiefs games.
Chiefs Kingdom Rewards members who arrive early can collect a special triple-point early arrival reward, earning 2,400 CKR points instead of 800 points by scanning their prepaid parking pass at the tollgates by 3 p.m.