The Best Stadium Blankets, According to Textile Experts and Sports Fans
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Sports fandom can inspire otherwise reasonable people to do things like spend $400 on an “authentic” jersey and sit outside in subzero temperatures to watch their team play live. And while enthusiastic cheering and a few overpriced beers might make such an excursion more palatable, a high-quality stadium blanket can bring comfort to foul-weather fans.
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A great stadium blanket is a souped-up version of the standard couch throw. It’s bigger, warmer, and tougher, a workhorse of a textile that’s often spotted covering loyal fans in swooping TV shots of Foxboro and Lambeau. Lots of stadium blankets are purchased mid-game in stadium gift stores when fans are cold and desperate enough to overpay. Those willing to shop proactively will find plenty of higher-quality options to choose from for less.
Finding a warm, dry haven amidst damp stadium seats and freezing sleet will set you back between $50 and $150 depending on the quality. But a good stadium blanket will last through many seasons, and spending $200 on a ticket only to have the experience soiled by bad weather makes the one time investment plenty worth it.
What the Experts Say
Sources within the industry say that stadium blankets can be evaluated on just a few different factors. For this story, SPY spoke with Serina Farrell, technical designer and product developer at American Giant, and Barbra Stern, editor-in-chief at Ottoman Textiles, a global supplier of wholesale textiles and bedding.
“Stadium blankets are primarily characterized by their size,” Farrell says. “At a minimum of 50 inches by 60 inches, the blankets are large enough to cover the bleachers, be worn on your lap, or to wrap up in to stay warm on chilly game days.” A stadium blanket for one can hew pretty close to this minimum, but for covering a crowd it’s best to look for supersized options, which Stern says can still be easy to transport if “designed to fold into a smaller size with a handle or strap.”
After size, material is the other principal concern. “ For outdoor use, you want a durable, water-resistant fabric that can retain heat,” Stern says. “Materials like fleece [cotton], wool, or a wool blend are excellent for warmth.”
Farrell and Sterns also recommend considering ease of cleaning, as stadium blankets are destined to get wet, stained, and otherwise ravaged by elements and condiments. Machine washability is key, in other words.
BEST OVERALL
Rumpl Original Puffy Blanket
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The Rumpl Original Puffy blanket earned its place at the top of our list because it’s a highly engineered product, and it proved difficult to find something that it didn’t do well.
It’s available in junior, 1-person, and 2-person sizes and a ton of eye-catching designs (including official NFL versions). It’s made of 100 percent recycled 30D ripstop polyester fabric, a material Farrell calls “all-weather…very versatile and great for outdoor use.” Inside that stain and water-resistant shell is 3D hollow fiber siliconized synthetic insulation, a synthetic material that packs a lot of insulative power into a lightweight package. The 1-person blanket weighs a touch over two pounds. By comparison, the similarly sized Down Under option below weighs a full pound more.
At $125 for the 1-person blanket, it’s far from the cheapest option on the market, but it’s competitively priced against other premium options, particularly when one considers the highly engineered functionality it offers.
MOST COMFORTABLE
American Giant Heavyweight Stadium Blanket
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Few materials can rival cotton for softness, so this 100-percent cotton, heavyweight (13 oz./sq. yard) blanket from American Giant is perhaps the coziest stadium blanket on the market.
Farrell says her company’s blanket is also plenty durable “since it’s a heavyweight fleece, along with double-needle cover stitching (a nice, strong stitch) that finishes the blanket.” The design is simple: a solid, camo, or plaid pattern with rounded corners and a label stitched into the corner. It’s nice and neutral enough to use as a living room throw in between games. And while it’s not explicitly packable, its weight is hardly unwieldy.
At $100, it’s fairly moderate in price for this category, more than cheap options from non-American-manufactured brands and less than overbuilt options made for severe conditions.
BEST DOUBLE-SIDED
L.L. Bean Waterproof Outdoor Blanket
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Double-sidedness is a trick that many stadium blankets pull, none better than this option from L.L. Bean, which has one side made of polyester fleece and another of nylon.
“For added water resistance, look for blankets with a nylon backing,” Stern advises. “This combination offers both comfort and practicality, keeping you dry and warm.” In this case, the nylon is coated in polyurethane to form an impermeable barrier while the fleece side is admirably soft. It’s packable into the included pouch and, despite the synthetic materials, machine washable.
The very nice price of this blanket befits the brand, which is known for its rugged and moderately priced outdoor gear.
BEST WEARABLE
Therm-A-Rest Honcho Poncho
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Wearing a blanket instead of carrying it leaves one’s hands-free to carry the essentials: food, drinks, novelty foam fingers, and the like. This blanket from Therm-A-Rest converts into a poncho with a couple of quick snaps, transitioning seamlessly from a shareable blanket to a waterproof outer layer.
Farrell says that “stadium blankets can certainly bring special features that are helpful to folks using them” that set them apart. The all-polyester construction feels more like a sleeping bag than a blanket, and the kangaroo pocket keeps hands warm while the zippable pocket securely stores valuables.
The Honcho Poncho is two items in one, so its slightly elevated price tag is easy to justify.
BEST HEAVY
Down Under Outdoors Stadium Blanket
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Simplicity is the raison d’etre of this value-priced blanket. It’s an extra-large, extra-heavy, extra-protective piece of fleece backed with a polyester lining.
Professional product tester Andhi Ermawan says he brought this blanket to a soccer game on a chilly night and “it did great, keeping me comfortable and dry even though the grass was wet and it was windy.” That’s not surprising given that the heavy 350 gsm polyester fleece is fused to a polyester lining with a double layer of waterproof coating. Fairly unique among stadium blankets is the included pouch for stashing small items.
At under $50, this blanket is well on the low end of the price spectrum, but the materials, size, and features point to a great value for the price, not a blanket that won’t make it through a full season.
Frequently Asked Questions About Stadium Blankets
What is a stadium blanket?
A stadium blanket is a blanket that you can take with you to an outdoor sporting event. Practically, that means they’re on the bigger side (Farrell says at least 50” x 60), typically warm, and often waterproof to handle the elements.
How much should I spend on a stadium blanket?
There’s no shortage of questionable options available online. They cost $20 and aren’t likely to make it through the fourth quarter. We found solid options from around $50 to $150, a small price to pay to sit outside comfortably whether at a pro football game or a kid’s soccer tournament.
Won’t using a blanket in public make me look less manly?
If you’d like to embrace toxic masculinity and freeze your ass off, be our guest. We’ll be embracing cozy masculinity, which is definitely a real thing.
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