The Portland Timbers’ Season Opener Against the Colorado Rapids Was the Coldest Game in Major League Soccer History

The team played in 18-degree weather with “piles of snow everywhere.”

Mar. 2, 2019; Comerce City, CO; Portland Timbers vs Colorado Rapids at Dicks Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. Photo: Craig Mitchelldyer-Portland Timbers
By Elise Herron

Apparently, no amount of snow stops soccer.

On Saturday, the Portland Timbers' season-opening game against the Colorado Rapids in Commerce City, Colo., set a new Major League Soccer record for the coldest game ever played.

Temperatures dropped to 18 degrees and heavy snow blanketed the field, causing ice to crust on referee's eyebrows and players to slip.

"I mean, listen, it was a snowstorm. You couldn't really get traction on the ground," the Timbers' goalkeeper Jeff Attinella said in a statement after the game. "There were piles of snow everywhere. So of course it changed the game."

Despite the conditions, 12,717 fans came out to watch the game. The result was a tie, with each team scoring three goals.

"I'm going to have to rewatch it," Rapids' midfielder Benny Feilhaber said of the 90-minute game. "It was crazy. It felt like I was back in fifth grade playing tackle football on a snow day, so it didn't even feel like a real game."

The previous MLS record for coldest game played was in 2017 in Minneapolis, Minn., when Minnesota United FC and Atlanta United FC competed on a 19-degree March day.

The Timbers, which lost the MLS Cup Final to Atlanta United in December, are starting their season on a 12-game road trip while Providence Park undergoes an expansion. The team won't play its first home game until June.

Related: Portland Timbers Fall 2-0 to Atlanta United in Championship Match.

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