How the Mountain America Stadium seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Maricopa and Pinal Counties 2020 collection, flown 20 November 2020, 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, team sides and the visitor section: rateyourseats.com section notes; wheelchair rows are left out. thesundevils.com does not publish the bench side or the visitor section.
Student and band sections, gates, bag rules, water, the Huss Hideout, beer, parking, transit, tailgating and the North Loge Boxes: thesundevils.com and sundevils.com. North Field Boxes: azfamily.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, 6951 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 Big 12 window (10 am, 1:30 pm, 5 pm, 8:30 pm Arizona time).

How rows are placed

A line is walked out from the field edge through each section. Lower bowl rows spread evenly up the first rake from the field wall; 200 and 300 rows take the upper rake that starts about 20 m up, with the 300 rows behind the 200 section in front. On the west side the upper rake meets the tower face before its last rows, so those rows continue at the depth measured on the open east side and count as covered.

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 November 2020. The North Loge Boxes (2025) and North Field Boxes (2026) are newer, at field level, and are not modelled; no numbered sections have changed.
The ticket map is not drawn to scale, so section directions come from it but section edges can be off by a few seats.
Not modelled: the clubs, loge and field boxes, the South Loge and the suites.
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