How the M&T Bank Stadium seat and sun data is measured

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

Sources

Stadium shape: USGS 3D Elevation Program lidar, Maryland 4 County collection (flown 23 December 2024), 4 tiles. 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.
Row lists, covered rows, clubs and team sides: rateyourseats.com section notes.
Gates, bag rules, parking, tailgating, transit and renovations: baltimoreravens.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, 11370 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 11 m, the club level about 13 to 20 m up, and the 500 level about 24 to 49 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 0.922 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 December 2024. The Ravens' 2023 to 2025 renovation added field-level seats (2024) and field-level clubs and suites (2025); the Ravens do not list any numbered bowl section as changed, and those new field-level spaces are not modelled. The 2026 upper concourse work widened concourses, not seating.
The club level is visible from above for only a few metres before the 500 deck hides it. Its rows are packed at our 0.55 m minimum, so front-to-back distances and heights for its back rows are approximate (a few metres short).
Rows under the deck above are hidden from above, so their position is extended along the measured slope and shown as covered.
Lettered rows (Row A in some 100 level sections) 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.
The Ravens sideline (south) is from rateyourseats.com section notes; the team's pages do not state it.
Light poles and video boards thinner than the 1 m grid may be missed.
No seat view for Sections 207, 219, 234, 246: 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