Sporting KC preps for Inter Miami, Messi & probable coldest game in team’s history
Another cold snap is headed for Kansas City, just in time for Sporting KC’s opener on Tuesday against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami in a CONCACAF Champions Cup match.
The high temperature that day is projected to be in single digits. The low will be around minus-9, and there’s also some snow in the forecast, according to Weather.com.
The Sporting KC-Inter Miami soccer match is set to begin at 7 p.m. at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, and there were no plans to alter the schedule.
“Cold is one thing; we’ll see what the snow does,” Sporting KC president and CEO Jake Reid said Friday, during the club’s media day event.
The CMP grounds crew got a practice run earlier this week when snow fell across the Kansas City metro. The field was quickly cleared and the team held a training session on the turf Friday in conjunction with media day.
“We’ll be ready,” Reid said. “Our concern is around safe access for fans to and from, and clearing the parking lots and walking ways.
“The cold is what it is. Bundle up. Bring your blankets, bring your hats. No one should be surprised when they come out that it’s freezing cold.”
Children’s Mercy Park will have additional heaters on the concourse along with complimentary hand warmers available at guest-service locations. And fans will be allowed to bring in cardboard on which to stand.
The conditions will be in sharp contrast to the last time Inter Miami visited Kansas City. Fans were clad in shorts and T-shirts on April 13 of last year when 72,610 jammed GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium to see Messi record a goal and an assist in a 3-2 Miami victory.
And bitterly cold weather is familiar for KC-Miami competitions. On Jan. 13, 2024, the Chiefs battled the Miami Dolphins in an AFC Wild Card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead. At kickoff, the temperature was minus-4 with a wind chill of minus-27.
Soccer seasons usually avoid the dead of winter, but Sporting KC won the 2013 MLS Cup in what at the time was the coldest game in Major League Soccer history. Sporting defeated Real Salt Lake on penalty kicks in a match that began with the temperature at 18 degrees with a wind chill of 7.
Tuesday’s conditions are expected to be even colder.
This story was originally published February 14, 2025 at 2:39 PM.