Does Notre Dame Stadium have a heated field?

Notre Dame Stadium will play host to the first-ever game of the 12-team College Football Playoff on Friday night. The Notre Dame Fighting Irish will host the Indiana Hoosiers in the First Round of the CFP. And as anyone with half a brain could've figured when it comes to Dec. 20 in South Bend, IN, the weather for the Playoff matchup is expected to be frigid with snow falling throughout the day and the chance of more to come around kickoff.

As college football fans, there's nothing better than a snow game (especially when watching from the warmth of your own home or even a warm bar seat). So to see the College Football Playoff get started in those conditions feels completely fitting.

However, we live in a modern world that has modern solutions to age-old problems. So with snow and icy temperatures in play at Notre Dame Stadium, fans are right to wonder if the Notre Dame field is heated to help melt the snow or even just warm things up on the turf. So here's what we know about the systems the Fighting Irish have or don't have installed at the venue.

Notre Dame Stadium does not have a heated field

Unfortunately and despite their geography, Notre Dame Stadium does not have a heated field in use right now in South Bend. However, that is to say that they don't have an underground heating system to help melt the snow if it should fall on the turf. The Fighting Irish do have Field Turf installed on the football team's playing surface, which even in the winter months is designed to keep the playing surface up to 10-15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the air temperature.

It should be noted that the players on the field, specifically the sidelines, at Notre Dame Stadium aren't just left to bundle up and pray when it comes to staying warm, though. There are multiple heating systems, tents and more that are installed on the sidelines in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus that keep players warm when they come off the field, a huge help in the frigid temperatures.

One curious thing to note, however, is if the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff could lead to major programs like Notre Dame installing heating systems below the turf of football stadiums moving forward. Typically, the Irish have long since played their final game at Notre Dame Stadium for the season by the time the real frigid temperatures of December arrive. But with First Round CFP games being played in this timeframe, it could make sense to install those systems as games could become more regular at this point on the calendar.

Do any college football stadiums have a heated field?

One thing that makes the possibility of heated football fields a little more likely for major programs like Notre Dame and otherwise is that we know it's a real thing. We've already seen it in college football as Big Ten programs such as Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium or even Minnesota at Huntington Bank Stadium reportedly either have heating systems installed beneath their turf or are in the process of installing them.

Moreover, despite perhaps the most obvious NFL stadium, Highmark Stadium in Buffalo, not having a heated field, there are numerous pro stadiums that have heated fields. Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, famously has a system installed to mitigate snow, as does the Kansas City Chiefs' home, Arrowhead Stadium, among others. It could be a new reality of college football too soon enough as the schedule stretches out longer than ever before.