How the Arrowhead Stadium seat and sun data is measured

Every number comes from a USGS lidar survey of the stadium, NOAA solar equations, the Chiefs section numbering and published row lists. Nothing is estimated from photos.

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Missouri FEMA/NRCS collection, flown 18 April 2020, 1 tile. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section directions: the section order round the stadium from a ticket map (section centres only), lined up with the field in the lidar. The press and suite tower behind the south-west sideline fixes which side is which.
Row lists, covered rows, clubs and team sides: rateyourseats.com section notes. The Chiefs' own pages do not say which sideline they use.
Gates, bag rules, parking and tailgating: arrowheadstadiumkc.com and chiefs.com. Capacity and opening year: Wikipedia.
Sun: NOAA solar position equations. Weather: ERA5 reanalysis and forecasts via Open-Meteo.

How shade is computed

Each section is sampled on 3 lines (left, centre, right) at every row, 9873 seat points in total. For each point the surrounding stadium surface is scanned in every direction the sun can come from to give a horizon profile. A seat is in direct sun when the sun is higher than that horizon. Games are sampled every 10 minutes for 3.5 hours. Rows under the deck above count as shade.

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section, and the measured profile is split into tiers by height: the lower bowl up to about 10 m and the 300 level about 24 to 43 m up. Where a cover row is published, the row depth is the open length of the tier divided by the rows in front of it. Row depths range from 0.55 to 0.688 m.

How the seat views are made

Each view is drawn from a 3D model built from the lidar, from 1.15 m above the seat (seated eye height), facing the field. Only rows open to the sky get a view.

Limits

The lidar was flown in April 2020. Before the 2025 season about 10 rows of concrete were cut from the visitors' sideline for the 2026 World Cup and replaced with removable aluminum stands; the Chiefs say every seat was put back one to one in the same place (KSHB, August 2025), so the 2020 shape is used.
The 200 club level sits wholly under the 300 deck and is never seen from above. Its rows continue the measured slope of the 100 level in front, behind a 2 m walkway, so its distances and heights are approximate and it has no seat views.
The video boards stand on top of the 300 level behind each end zone, hiding Sections 312, 313, 335 and 336 from above. Those four take the measured slope of the 300 section next to them.
Rows under the deck above are hidden from above, so their position is extended along the measured slope and shown as covered.
Lettered rows behind a section's numbered rows (A1, A2) are not placed.
Section edges come from the section order round the stadium, not an official drawing, so a section's sideways extent can be off by a seat or two.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
No seat view for Sections 201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244, 245, 246, 335, 336: too few open rows to render. Their rows and sun minutes are still shown.

Downloads (CC BY 4.0)

sun-by-section.csv: game, kickoff, section, minutes of sun, shade arrival
sections.json: section geometry and row-by-row sightlines