Pick the wrong section at Paulson Stadium for a day game and you will feel it for three hours. 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 Georgia Southern 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 48% of a 3:30 game in shade while the sidelines average far less (south 9%, north 10%).
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% | 19% | 99% |
| South sideline, upper deck | 0% | 0% | 87% |
| North sideline, lower rows | 0% | 19% | 99% |
| North sideline, upper deck | 0% | 3% | 90% |
| East end zone, lower rows | 0% | 11% | 97% |
| East end zone, upper deck | 0% | 3% | 87% |
| West end zone, lower rows | 0% | 48% | 100% |
| West end zone, upper deck | 0% | 47% | 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 end zone, lower rows | 48% | about 2 hours in |
| West end zone, mid level | 48% | about 2 hours in |
| West end zone, upper deck | 47% | about 2 hours in |
| South sideline, lower rows | 19% | about 3.5 hours in |
South sideline, upper deck sit in sun for 100% of a 3:30 game, and East end zone, upper deck sit in sun for 97% 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 end zone, lower rows gain it soonest.
At a 3:30 kickoff the sun stands about 49 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 2 hours in, the upper deck about 2 hours in. The common assumption, top rows first, is wrong in this bowl. Because the stands rise at close to the sun's afternoon angle, the shadow starts at the rail and works its way up, and the highest rows are the last to cool off. The south sideline, upper deck never reach half shade before the final whistle.
By a 7:00 kickoff the sun sits only about 7 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 end zone averages about 48% shade in mid-September and about 67% by late October, because the sun stands 14 degrees lower at kickoff (35 instead of 49). Late-season day games are kinder in every section.
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The percentages above are computed, not eyeballed: a 3D model of this bowl is ray-traced against the sun's true position for each date and kickoff shown, using the same engine as the live map. It approximates the stands as a tiered ring and ignores overhangs and press boxes, so trust it for which areas shade first rather than for any single row. Independent tool; not affiliated with the NCAA or any school.
Same conference, same afternoon sun. Shade guides for the rest of the Sun Belt: