Three hours on the wrong side of FirstBank Stadium in September is a bake. The field runs almost due north-south, the shade collects on the west sideline, and below is how much of a noon, 3:30 or night Vanderbilt kickoff every area spends in shade, ray-traced for this exact bowl.
Pick your game and kickoff. Watch the shade move across the bowl through the game.
The field runs almost due north-south, so the afternoon sun crosses the bowl broadside. The stands on the west side block it first: that sideline averages about 72% of a 3:30 game in shade against 29% for the east side. Every number here is ray-traced for this exact orientation (9 degrees), latitude and kickoff time, by the same engine as the live map.
Share of a full game spent in shade, by area, for a mid-September Saturday:
| Seats | Noon | 3:30 | 7:00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| East sideline, lower rows | 0% | 39% | 100% |
| East sideline, upper deck | 0% | 21% | 100% |
| West sideline, lower rows | 0% | 74% | 100% |
| West sideline, upper deck | 0% | 71% | 100% |
| North end zone, lower rows | 0% | 52% | 100% |
| North end zone, upper deck | 0% | 34% | 100% |
| South end zone, lower rows | 0% | 52% | 100% |
| South end zone, upper deck | 0% | 28% | 100% |
100% = shaded for the entire game. Evening kickoffs converge toward 100% everywhere as the sun sets.
| Seats | Game in shade | Reaches half shade |
|---|---|---|
| West sideline, lower rows | 74% | about an hour in |
| West sideline, mid level | 71% | about an hour in |
| West sideline, upper deck | 71% | about an hour in |
| North end zone, lower rows | 52% | about 2 hours in |
East sideline, upper deck sit in sun for 79% of a 3:30 game, and East sideline, mid level sit in sun for 73% of a 3:30 game. Noon kickoffs start with the sun about 56 degrees high and nearly every open seat lit. You cannot buy full shade at noon here, only a head start: west sideline, lower rows gain it soonest.
At a 3:30 kickoff the sun stands about 40 degrees up in the southwest. Watch the clock, because shade here is a schedule: shade climbs the west sideline from the bottom up. The lower rows reach half shade about an hour in, the upper deck about an hour in. Most fans guess the upper deck shades first. Here it is backwards: the rake of the stands roughly matches the afternoon sun angle, so shadow pools at the front rows first and then climbs the bowl one row at a time. Even the east sideline, upper deck eventually get there, but not until about 3.5 hours in.
By a 7:00 kickoff the sun sits only about -1 degrees above the horizon and is gone during the first half, which is why the night column above reads close to 100% almost everywhere. If shade decides it for your group, a night game beats any seat strategy.
The calendar does half the work. For the identical 3:30 kickoff, the west sideline averages about 72% shade in mid-September and about 90% by late October, because the sun stands 14 degrees lower at kickoff (26 instead of 40). Late-season day games are kinder in every section.
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Every number here is produced by a 3D ray-traced model of this seating bowl plus the exact solar position for the dates and kickoffs shown, the same engine behind the live map. The model approximates the bowl as a continuous tiered ring, without overhangs, press boxes or section canopies, so read the percentages as a dependable ranking of which areas shade first, not a row-level guarantee. Independent tool; not affiliated with the NCAA or any school.
Same conference, same afternoon sun. Shade guides for the rest of the SEC: