He’ll, I’d even pay let’s say $20 to go see that game. I watch football throughout the weekend, so I enjoy the sport enough. Bears are having a fun year. I can dress for the cold. I love the atmosphere of a full sports stadium. There’s little downside for me. Something nice to do on a cold December Sunday.
Hell yes I’d go! It would be quite the experience. But I’m also one who would want to go to a winter Packers game at Lambeau and watch them play on the frozen tundra. (trying to channel my John Facenda voice)
Probably. I have enough cold weather gear and know how to deal with extreme temps. But I wouldn’t hesitate to leave after my required 1 half of play if I was getting miserable. Not like in the old days when I would ski first to last chair, and would stay for every pitch of a baseball game.
Like @Telemark, I’m a skier, and I know how to dress for cold weather. I routinely ski in single-digit weather with wind chill. So sure, why not?
I rarely make first chair, but I always ski last chair, preferably as high up as I can get and still make it back to my starting point. 
I’m a Bears fan and watched today’s game on TV, but I would not have attended, and I would have given the same answer even when I was much younger. Since childhood I’ve found intensely cold weather to be really, really unpleasant.
I get what people are saying about “it’s OK if you’re dressed for it”. But because I find it unpleasant, I avoid the types of activities which would lead me to acquire such gear, and so I don’t own it.
I said no, but it’s because I’m not a Bears fan. If it were my favorite team, and they were a playoff contender that year, I might, but only if I dressed in 8 layers of clothing.
That doesn’t sound very appetizing. Not only am I not a big fan of the cold, but I got completely spoiled from my days decades ago as a newspaper guy covering San Francisco 49ers and Oakland Raiders games, where I always had the option of taking in the action in the press box, protected from the elements and filled with free food. Gonna have to decline, thanks.
LOLno. There’s no kind of event at all that’s getting me out in subfreezing cold for one second longer than the time it takes me to walk to and from the car (or to clear snow off my car if absolutely necessary). Well, at least not if I have any choice in the matter.
If you’re going to tempt me, I need it to be at least in the high thirties, and give me two reasonably good teams.
Had 15 or so friends/family over for caroling yesterday. Some of whom were Bears fans, others definitely not. I asked this question. Maybe 3-4 folk said they would go if given tickets. At least as many said “No way,” tho they acceded when I suggested as much as $10 million.
I thought about this thread yesterday while I was outdoors for a couple hours at a ‘winter fest’ event. It was bitterly cold, topping out at maybe 12F with a pesky breeze making it feel even colder. I was dressed for the weather so it wasn’t too bad, but there were a couple fires and a warming tent to get occasional relief. The only extra thing I’d do at a game in similar weather would be to wear a balaclava.
Made me wonder-- I don’t think I’ve ever been to a game with an outdoor stadium in really bitter cold weather-- how do the vendors handle it? The inner corridors are mostly sheltered from wind and precip, but are partially exposed to the outdoors. Are the corridors heated at all, or do the vendors use space heaters? Or do they just suffer the cold along with the fans?
I guess I’m just used to the cold because it wasn’t all that bad yesterday. I walked my dog after the sun went down for an hour and both he and and I were fine. As long as I have good gloves, a hat, and a scarf, I’m fine. I wasn’t even wearing snow boots — just a pair of Sketchers. My young daughters are apparently built the same way as it’s nigh impossible to get them to wear a jacket or a coat unless it’s in the teens or lower, and even then it’s like twisting an arm. My family roots do trace back to the mountains in the south of Poland, so I guess that tracks. I’ll take bitter cold over sweltering heat any day.
I spent some time outside this weekend but would have declined a free Bears ticket yesterday morning. But it wouldn’t have taken nearly $10k to get me there, a couple hundred would do it.
I’ve got apparel for skiing so I’m set for clothes.
You’re probably aware, but just in case; the field has been heated since 1967😯. Once the cold did overwhelm the system. It was upgraded in 1997 to a NG system. Natural gas. TLDR: The Tundra ain’t frozen.
I’ve gone to a Blackhawks game when they had the winter classic at Wrigley and to a Bears game in December maybe 6-7 years ago. I don’t remember the temperature for either, but they were cold and I did not have a good time at either. The Bears game was at least partially because I was only in Chicago for the holidays, not planning on being outside a ton when I packed, and underdressed.
I’ve fallen off watching the Bears recently, so the answer is still no, but I would go to a soccer game in that weather. Core temp is pretty easy. Ears, fingers, and toes are the hardest, and in that order. If you have a fur hat and a good scarf wrapped well your face and ears should be fine. Fingers you can tuck inside a handwarmer or use chemical heaters. Toes though, you better have great socks and good circulation.
Can a soccer game be played in that type of weather?
It can, sure. I’m not sure how often it would come up. MLS ended a couple weeks ago, continental Europe is warmer and has a winter break, and I believe the colder places mostly play a Spring to Fall schedule, but I don’t see why not. MLS has had plenty of games in the snow. They tend not to be the most technical, but they get by.
Thanks for the reminder. I’d forgotten. Your post made me ask, when was the Ice Bowl played? I looked it up, it was 31 December 1967, so the field was heated after that date (minor nit pick). But yep, that Tundra, it ain’t frozen no more.
The Ice Bowl is one of the greatest games in NFL history, the 3rd greatest game of all time according to some polls. Per wiki, the temperature at kickoff was −13°F. The Ice Bowl is still the coldest game ever played in NFL history.
Back to the thread: if you have the right gear and the air isn’t so super cold that it’s painful to breathe, then you can actually be comfortably warm enough. And the cold air into my lungs can actually feel invigorating. At least to me.
I grew up in Upstate New York, near Albany / Schenectady / Troy, and I like winter weather. I live near San Francisco and in the winters I like to visit Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Donner Summit to get my ‘snow and winter fix’.
I did my Arctic survival training at Fort McCoy Wisconsin where it gets colder than a witch’s tit. Call me nuts but I actually enjoy camping out in winter and sleeping on the snow, with only my mouth and nose open to the hole of my sleeping bag. Even at my age, 64.
I live in Scotland so it is logistics rather than weather that prevents me going,
If I was in Chicago, and had my cold weather gear, I would take up the offer of free tickets, maybe even pay $50-$100 for them. I have been on holidays to Lapland where I was out all day in temperatures of about -20C (-4F) so I should be reasonably comfortable.
As far as I’m concerned, the question is basically this: for a sum of money, would you sit out in very cold weather, somewhere in Chicago, dressed as you please, with no entertainment, but with snacks if you pay for them, for about 3 hours? If yes, what would be the minimum sum of money you would accept?
The game, to me is irrelevant. I could stare uncomprehendingly at a game being played, or a junior high school production of Hamilton, or an empty field, or a parking lot, or the night sky. The minimum is still $25,000 with $500 upfront for snacks and other amenities.
Any other conditions, like forbidding the use of electricity (battery power), so I cannot have an electric blanket and socks, will cost more.
(Lifelong Packer Fan response 
)
Vince Lombardi had Lambeau Field’s first heating system (an electrical one) installed earlier in 1967, and it was operating before the Ice Bowl.
However, it appears that it didn’t function properly; during practices on the field the day before, steam had been seen rising from the field. Then, the field was covered by a tarp overnight, which had allowed that moisture to accumulate on the field surface. When the tarp was removed in the extreme cold prior to the game, the moisture rapidly froze solid, leaving the playing surface icy and frozen.