September day games at Pitbull Stadium split the crowd into two groups: the shaded and the cooked. 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 FIU 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 52% of a 3:30 game in shade while the sidelines average far less (south 12%, north 16%).
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% | 21% | 100% |
| South sideline, upper deck | 0% | 3% | 90% |
| North sideline, lower rows | 0% | 21% | 100% |
| North sideline, upper deck | 0% | 13% | 97% |
| East end zone, lower rows | 0% | 15% | 98% |
| East end zone, upper deck | 0% | 5% | 90% |
| West end zone, lower rows | 0% | 52% | 100% |
| West end zone, upper deck | 0% | 47% | 100% |
Read 100% as shaded from kickoff to final whistle. Every area drifts toward 100% for evening games as the sun drops.
| Seats | Game in shade | Reaches half shade |
|---|---|---|
| West end zone, lower rows | 52% | about 2 hours in |
| West end zone, mid level | 50% | about 2 hours in |
| West end zone, upper deck | 47% | about 2 hours in |
| South sideline, lower rows | 21% | about 3.5 hours in |
South sideline, upper deck sit in sun for 97% of a 3:30 game, and East end zone, upper deck sit in sun for 95% of a 3:30 game. Noon kickoffs start with the sun about 61 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 52 degrees up in the southwest. Minute by minute, this is what the model shows: 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. That surprises people who assume the top of the stadium shades first. It does not. The stands behind you rise at roughly the same pitch as the afternoon sun, so the front rows drop into shadow first and the shade line walks upward row by row. Even the south sideline, upper deck eventually get there, but not until about 4 hours in.
Night games solve the problem for you: at a 7:00 kickoff the sun is already down to about 6 degrees and sets during the first half, so the whole bowl converges on 100% shade. Nobody needs this page for a night kickoff.
Date matters as much as section. Take the same 3:30 kickoff in late October and the west end zone climbs from about 50% shade to about 67%, purely because the kickoff sun drops from 52 to 38 degrees. Every area benefits late in the season.
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These figures come straight from the engine that runs the live map: a 3D bowl model ray-traced against the actual solar path for the dates and kickoffs listed. Overhangs, press boxes and one-off canopies are not modeled, so use the numbers to rank areas, then confirm the exact row on a seat map. Independent tool; not affiliated with the NCAA or any school.
Same conference, same afternoon sun. Shade guides for the rest of the Conference USA: