How the Kroger Field seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Kentucky 15 County collection, flown 10 March 2025, 2 tiles. First-return points gridded to 1 m, noise removed.
Section directions: the section order round the stadium from a ticket map, lined up with the field in the lidar.
Row lists, the Kentucky side, the visitor sections and the covered corner rows: rateyourseats.com section notes; wheelchair rows are left out.
Student section, gates, bag rules, water, blankets, beer, parking, the shuttle and the 2026 chairbacks: ukathletics.com. The rest of the renovation plan: Lexington Herald-Leader. 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, 7290 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. Kickoffs not yet announced are modelled at each SEC window (noon, 3:30 pm, 7:30 pm Eastern).

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section and takes the first rake in that tier's height band: the lower bowl from the field wall, the upper decks about 18 m up. Rows spread over the visible rake, never wider than the depth measured on the sidelines (0.73 m in the lower bowl, 0.70 m in the upper decks). Row numbers a section does not sell (Rows 1 to 16 in Section 12, 1 to 30 in Section 36) keep their place.

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 March 2025. For 2026 only the seat type changed in Rows 2 to 7 of Sections 202 to 210 (bleachers to chairbacks); the stands' shape and the section numbers did not change.
The ticket map is not drawn to scale, so section directions come from it but section edges can be off by a few seats.
Covered rows in the corner sections come from rateyourseats.com; the lidar sees the corner towers behind those rows, not a roof over them.
Not modelled: the club boxes under the north deck, the field-level club seats, the suites and the press box.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.

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