New England Patriots

Gillette Stadium evacuated just hours after false alarm at Steelers' hotel

Published Jan. 22, 2017 12:02 p.m. ET

Cameron DaSilva

In the wee hours of the night, the fire alarm at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ hotel went off. It was a false alarm, of course, which was pulled by a man who has since been arrested. It happened at around 3 a.m., and hours later, the Patriots experienced a bizarre occurrence of their own.

The fire alarm at Gillette Stadium went off at around 10:15 a.m., causing the facility to be evacuated of everyone inside. Media members who were doing their pregame work were forced to leave the premises.

https://twitter.com/MikeGiardi/status/823187230319579136

https://twitter.com/JoshBrogadirTV/status/823186187921817601

It wasn’t long before they were allowed to go back into Gillette Stadium with no actual issue being found. So not only were the Steelers forced to evacuate their hotel due to a false alarm, but the home to the Patriots was cleared of people, too – all within 18 hours of the AFC Championship game’s kickoff.

https://twitter.com/MikeGiardi/status/823185431097380864

A bit of gamesmanship, perhaps? We'll probably never know.