Three hours on the wrong side of SHI 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 Rutgers 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 67% of a 3:30 game in shade against 24% for the east side. Every number here is ray-traced for this exact orientation (12 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% | 34% | 100% |
| East sideline, upper deck | 0% | 15% | 100% |
| West sideline, lower rows | 0% | 68% | 100% |
| West sideline, upper deck | 0% | 66% | 100% |
| North end zone, lower rows | 0% | 48% | 100% |
| North end zone, upper deck | 0% | 30% | 100% |
| South end zone, lower rows | 0% | 48% | 100% |
| South end zone, upper deck | 0% | 24% | 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 sideline, lower rows | 68% | about an hour and a half in |
| West sideline, mid level | 68% | about an hour and a half in |
| West sideline, upper deck | 66% | about an hour and a half in |
| North end zone, lower rows | 48% | about 2 hours in |
East sideline, upper deck sit in sun for 85% of a 3:30 game, and South end zone, upper deck sit in sun for 76% of a 3:30 game. Noon kickoffs start with the sun about 52 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 39 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 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 sideline, upper deck eventually get there, but not until about 3.5 hours in.
Night games solve the problem for you: at a 7:00 kickoff the sun is already down to about 1 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 sideline climbs from about 67% shade to about 86%, purely because the kickoff sun drops from 39 to 25 degrees. Every area benefits late in the season.
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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: