Heat wave hits Iowa’s first football game. What’s changing at Kinnick?

Safety measures are being expanded for the Iowa football season opener on Saturday, Sept. 5, amid a heatwave across the state.

Fans attending the Iowa-Northern Illinois game at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday will be able to bring their own water bottles and access cooling areas as the high for the day is expected to reach 92 degrees, with heat index values potentially climbing into the triple digits. Here’s what to know.

What heat-relief measures will be available at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday?

Fans will be permitted to enter the stadium with an unlimited number of sealed water bottles and empty refillable water bottles, according to a news release from Iowa Athletics. If fans don’t bring their own, 4,000 refillable water bottles will be distributed at gates A, B and M.

Besides allowing fans to bring unlimited sealed water bottles and empty refillable bottles into the stadium, there will be:

• Expanded first aid resources with cooling areas to help prevent heat-related illness.
• Johnson County Ambulance Service will have a UTV stationed outside the stadium before the game “to ensure rapid response”
• University of Iowa Health Care staff on site to assist with medical needs and heat-related illnesses.

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If you’d rather watch the game indoors with the benefit of air conditioning, you can tune in at 3:15 p.m. CT when it airs live on BTN.

Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at [email protected] or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.

This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: Heat wave hits Iowa’s first football game. What’s changing at Kinnick?

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