What to Wear to a Football Game: 12 Looks for Cold and Rain

For a cold football game, wear three layers you can adjust (a thermal base, a fleece or sweater in your team's colors, and a coat that blocks wind or rain), plus insulated boots, wool socks, a beanie and gloves. When it's wet, the outside layer has to shed water, because a soaked cotton hoodie stays cold for the rest of the night. The 12 outfits below are sorted by where you'll sit and what the forecast says, from Friday-night bleachers to a heated suite.

Dress for Your Seat: Bleachers, Tailgates, Upper Deck, Suite

Where you sit decides how cold you'll get.

1. Late-season Friday night bleachers

A thermal long-sleeve under a crewneck sweatshirt in your team's colors, a puffer vest on top, fleece-lined leggings or straight jeans, lug-sole boots and a beanie. The vest keeps your core warm and leaves your arms free for clapping, holding a hot chocolate and waving at the kid you came to watch. It's the outfit for November playoff nights; the September version with spirit wear and face paint lives in our homecoming outfit ideas.

2. The college tailgate that starts at 8 a.m.

A flannel shirt worn open over a thermal tee, a quilted vest, dark straight jeans, and duck boots or waterproof Chelsea boots. Morning tailgates tend to start on frosty grass and warm up by kickoff, so every layer should either come off and tie around your waist or fold into a pocket. Flannel also forgives grill smoke and dropped dip in a way a cream sweater won't.

3. The game day dress, built for cold

At schools where game day leans dressy, swap the sundress for a long-sleeve knit or sweater dress in your team's colors, fleece-lined tights, knee-high boots and a long coat. Fleece-lined tights look like regular opaque tights from the outside and feel close to leggings, which is what keeps this outfit wearable past October. A small clear crossbody gets it from the tailgate to the student section.

4. A long puffer for the upper deck

A puffer that falls below the knee, a chunky turtleneck, leggings or straight jeans, insulated boots, and a scarf and beanie in your team's colors. Length matters more than puffiness here: the higher rows usually catch more wind, and a long coat keeps your thighs off a plastic seat that's been cooling all afternoon. NFL night games get colder every quarter, and this is the outfit that keeps up.

5. A jersey over a hoodie

Size the jersey up once so a hoodie fits underneath, wear a thermal top under the hoodie, then add jeans or joggers and sneakers or boots. The jersey turns into your team-color outer layer instead of a cold mesh shirt, and a puffer goes over the whole stack once the sun's down. At NFL and college games alike, this is the easiest way to wear a jersey in December.

6. Suite or club seats

Dark jeans or wool trousers, a fine merino sweater in a team color or a neutral, a wool coat or tailored jacket, and leather ankle boots or clean leather sneakers. Most suites are enclosed and heated with a row of outdoor seats in front, so pick a coat that comes off easily and skip the heavy thermal base that'll have you sweating by halftime. If the tickets came from work or a client, dress as you would for a business-casual dinner and leave the face paint at home.

Dress for the Forecast: Crisp, Rainy or Below Freezing

Check the hourly forecast for the end of the game, not just the start.

7. A crisp 50-degree afternoon

A plain bomber or varsity-style jacket, a crewneck sweater or long-sleeve tee, jeans and sneakers. This is the one game on the list where a single mid layer does the whole job, which makes it the outfit for sunny October afternoons and early-season night games. The full layering logic for that temperature is in our 50 degree weather guide.

8. Steady rain

A waterproof shell with a hood over a fleece zip-up, quick-dry pants or lined leggings, waterproof boots, and a ball cap under the hood so the brim keeps water off your face. Skip jeans if it's going to pour: denim soaks through, gets heavy and stays wet for the whole second half. Pack a clear poncho too, since a lot of stadiums don't allow umbrellas (and the row behind you wouldn't see much if they did).

9. Cold rain, 35 to 45 degrees

The hardest game to dress for. Start with a merino or synthetic base layer, then fleece, then a puffer, then a poncho over the puffer, because down loses most of its warmth once it soaks through. Rain pants over fleece-lined leggings, waterproof boots, wool socks and a dry pair sealed in a zip bag for halftime finish it, and what to wear in 40 degree weather has more ideas for that range.

10. The men's cold-game uniform

A thermal henley, a quarter-zip fleece in your team's colors, an insulated jacket or a lined chore coat, flannel-lined jeans or lined chinos, waterproof boots and a beanie. The quarter-zip does the adjusting: zip it to the chin when the wind picks up, open it in the concession line. Most men own everything here except the lined pants, and those earn their price after one cold night.

11. A freezing night game, below 25°F (about -4°C)

Thermal leggings under jeans or snow pants, a wool base layer and a fleece up top, a parka that covers your hips, insulated boots a half size up to fit thick wool socks, a neck gaiter, mittens over thin liner gloves, plus hand and toe warmers. Feet usually give out first on cold concrete, so stand on a flattened piece of cardboard to put a layer between your soles and the ground. The base-layer advice in our ski outfit guide carries over almost exactly.

12. The neutral fan

Going with a date, a friend's alumni crowd or a client, and rooting for neither side? Stick to camel, charcoal, cream or black, with a long wool coat, a cream cable-knit sweater, dark jeans, leather boots and a gray beanie. Look up both teams' colors before you leave, because a bright scarf in the wrong section reads as a choice. You can also walk straight into dinner after the game in it.

Stay Warm in the Stands: Layers, Blankets and Bag Rules

Cold at a football game mostly comes from below. The bench or seat pulls heat out of you for three hours and your feet sit on concrete or aluminum the whole time, so build from the ground up and adjust the top half as the night goes on.

Kickoff temperature	Base	Middle	Outer	Extras
50s	Long-sleeve tee	Sweater or sweatshirt	Light jacket or vest	Beanie for after dark
40s	Thermal top	Fleece or wool sweater	Insulated jacket	Gloves, scarf, wool socks
30s	Thermal top and leggings	Fleece	Long puffer or parka	Hand warmers, a blanket
Below 30	Wool base, top and bottom	Fleece plus a vest	Parka and snow pants	Mittens, gaiter, toe warmers, something to sit on

The seat rule: put something between you and the seat before you add another layer on top. A blanket folded under you often does more than one spread across your lap.

A folded blanket or a thin foam pad both work. The NFL's clear bag policy turns away large seat cushions with pockets, zippers, compartments or covers, and it lets fans bring blankets by carrying them over a shoulder or arm through screening.

Bags are the other cold-weather snag. That same NFL policy allows clear bags up to 12 x 6 x 12 inches or a one-gallon clear freezer bag, plus one small clutch up to 4.5 x 6.5 inches. College and high school venues write their own rules and many stadiums limit bag size, so check your venue's game-day page before you pack. Hand warmers, spare wool socks, a folded poncho, liner gloves and lip balm all fit in a clear bag with room left over.

If you're staring at three coats and a forecast at 5 p.m., Klodsy can suggest an outfit for tonight's weather from the clothes you already own.

What to Skip When the Game Is Cold or Wet

• Cotton as your only layer. A hoodie and jeans are fine on a dry 50-degree night, but in rain they turn into cold, heavy cloth.
• Boots you haven't broken in. Parking lots, ramps and stadium stairs add up to more walking than you expect.
• Smooth soles and heels. Wet bleachers and concrete ramps get slick.
• A big tote. It won't get past the gate at an NFL stadium, and other venues may turn it away too.
• One huge coat over a T-shirt. You can't adjust it, so you'll sweat in the concourse and freeze in your seat.

Early-season games in the heat are a different problem, closer to a summer afternoon at the ballpark, and our baseball game outfit guide covers that side. From November on, start with what you'll sit on and build up from there. Try Klodsy to plan your next game-day outfit from your own closet.