Erie County roundly rejected claims made by a Kansas City Chiefs offensive lineman that someone shut off the team’s hot water in the locker room after they defeated the Buffalo Bills.
Donovan Smith, an offensive tackle for the Chiefs, tweeted on Sunday that the team had no hot water in the locker room at Highmark Stadium—which is owned by the county—Sunday night following their nailbiter 27-24 victory.
“Caught a L and they shut our hot water off… smh its all good we got that Dub today,” Smith wrote, referring to the Chiefs’ defeat of the Bills that evening.
A spokesman for Erie County rejected Smith’s claim in an email to The Daily Beast—suggesting that it would not be possible to shut off hot water to one team’s locker room even if a grudge-holding employee or fan wanted to.
“This is false,” county Press Secretary Peter Anderson wrote. “There is no way to turn hot water off on one side or the other. There are two huge hot water tanks which feed both home and away locker rooms.”
Anderson—whose response was first reported by TMZ—also suggested that the issue might have been the simple overwhelming demand for hot water throughout the stadium presented by the exodus of tens of thousands of fans.
“It is no different than in your home; when the water runs continuously, it will struggle to keep up with demand,” he added.
Representatives for the Kansas City Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
