Three hours on the wrong side of LA Memorial Coliseum in September is a bake. The field runs almost due east-west, the shade collects on the west end zone, and below is how much of a noon, 3:30 or night USC 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.
Because the field runs almost due east-west, the afternoon sun tracks along the length of the field instead of across it. That flips the usual advice: neither sideline hides from the sun here. The shade collects behind the west end zone, where the lower rows spend about 65% of a 3:30 game in shade while the sidelines average far less (south 24%, north 24%).
Share of a full game spent in shade, by area, for a mid-September Saturday:
| Seats | Noon | 3:30 | 7:00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South sideline, lower rows | 0% | 33% | 100% |
| South sideline, upper deck | 0% | 16% | 100% |
| North sideline, lower rows | 0% | 33% | 100% |
| North sideline, upper deck | 0% | 16% | 100% |
| East end zone, lower rows | 0% | 26% | 100% |
| East end zone, upper deck | 0% | 16% | 100% |
| West end zone, lower rows | 0% | 65% | 100% |
| West end zone, upper deck | 0% | 60% | 100% |
A 100% cell means that area never sees direct sun that game. The 7:00 column climbs everywhere because the sun sets mid-game.
| Seats | Game in shade | Reaches half shade |
|---|---|---|
| West end zone, lower rows | 65% | about an hour and a half in |
| West end zone, mid level | 65% | about an hour and a half in |
| West end zone, upper deck | 60% | about an hour and a half in |
| South sideline, lower rows | 33% | about 3 hours in |
East end zone, upper deck sit in sun for 84% of a 3:30 game, and North sideline, upper deck sit in sun for 84% of a 3:30 game. Noon kickoffs start with the sun about 58 degrees high and nearly every open seat lit. You cannot buy full shade at noon here, only a head start: west end zone, lower rows gain it soonest.
At a 3:30 kickoff the sun stands about 42 degrees up in the southwest. Watch the clock, because shade here is a schedule: shade climbs the west end zone from the bottom up. The lower rows reach half shade about an hour and a half in, the upper deck about an hour and a half 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 end zone, upper deck eventually get there, but not until about 3.5 hours in.
At a 7:00 kickoff the sun starts about 0 degrees up and disappears before halftime, so every area heads to 100% in the night column. When the schedule offers a night game, that is the shade play, not a seat trick.
Shift the same 3:30 game to late October and the numbers move on their own: about 83% shade on the west end zone instead of 63%, with the kickoff sun 14 degrees lower (28 vs 42). November crowds rarely need this page at all.
No. LA Memorial Coliseum is an open-air stadium: no dome, no full roof, and games are played under the open sky. How much sun your seat gets depends on the stands and the start time: shade builds from one side of the bowl as the game goes on. For your exact game, the free shade map shows which sections sit in shade at kickoff and how the shade moves.
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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 Big Ten:
All 136 college football shade guides →
Every FBS stadium ranked by sun exposure, at seven kickoff times →