FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - On Saturday night, the New England Patriots will host the Denver Broncos at Gillette Stadium in another highly anticipated AFC Divisional Playoff game. This will be the 10th playoff game the Patriots have hosted at Gillette Stadium since it opened in 2002 and the 14th since Robert Kraft purchased the team in 1994.
In anticipation of the cold weather, fans arriving early will receive HotHands hand warmers for "up to 10 hours of heat." Earlier this week, the Kraft family purchased a vendor's entire inventory of the hand warmers and will distribute the 20,000 packets to fans at entrances throughout the stadium.
The forecast for Saturday calls for a high of 32 degrees, but the low is expected to dip into the single-digits by the end of the game.
"It is going to be very cold and we want to remind all our fans to dress appropriately for Saturday night's game," said Stacey James, Vice President of Media Relations for the New England Patriots. "Hopefully, these heat packets will help our fans to keep their hands warm while the Patriots have the ball so they can use them to make a lot of noise when the Broncos are on offense."
The last time the Patriots hosted a playoff game when the temperatures dipped into the single digits was on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2004 in an AFC Divisional playoff game against the Tennessee Titans. A sold out crowd propelled the Patriots to a 17-14 victory over the Titans en route to the team's second Super Bowl title in three years. It was only 4 degrees at kickoff of that Divisional Playoff game, which still ranks as the coldest home game in franchise history.
