This is an interesting image that shows the directional orientation of each college football stadium.

It would be interesting to know what the thought process was in the choosing of this in each case.

So they setup practically every stadium so teams don't have to stare into the sun in the evening. This is hardly earth shattering news, despite how scientific that chart looks.

My guess would be the where the setting sun would be shining in the late afternoon.

Take the Deathstar that is oriented in a East/West direction as an example. On a Sunday afternoon game the sun shines directly in the eyes of the QB.

The sun is clearly the main criteria, but the variance does show that other things were taken into account (structure, roads, available property, etc). Interesting to see it depicted this way.

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My guess would be the where the setting sun would be shining in the late afternoon.

Take the Deathstar that is oriented in a East/West direction as an example. On a Sunday afternoon game the sun shines directly in the eyes of the QB.

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Yeah, I just wonder if there is a "key" time that was different in each choice.

For instance, why would there be such a difference in the orientation of Kyle Field and DK Royal? Why is Royal oriented the way it is? Is it actually just because of how I-35 cuts through the town? Or is there a key time where the sun is in the ideal location?

Do you aim for 4:00 pm? In what month? Sep? Oct? Nov?

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For instance, why would there be such a difference in the orientation of Kyle Field and DK Royal? Why is Royal oriented the way it is? Is it actually just because of how I-35 cuts through the town? Or is there a key time where the sun is in the ideal location?

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I'm not sure why they put t.u. where they did (north as opposed to south), but there isn't that much difference, and it is 100% attributable to the A&M campus being laid out in relation to a grid established when the campus was laid out, which grid was tied to the railroad. That's the reason Kyle doesn't run true north/south. It's on a flat piece of land and could be oriented in any fashion one desires. Memorial stadium is probably just off true north south because of the topography (there is a creek behind the west side of the stadium, and the east is built into a hill).

OSU is an interesting case--they changed their field orientation 90 degrees in order to take the wind out of the game (the prevailing wind is a cross wind now).

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For instance, why would there be such a difference in the orientation of Kyle Field and DK Royal? Why is Royal oriented the way it is? Is it actually just because of how I-35 cuts through the town? Or is there a key time where the sun is in the ideal location?

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I'm not sure why they put t.u. where they did (north as opposed to south), but there isn't that much difference, and it is 100% attributable to the A&M campus being laid out in relation to a grid established when the campus was laid out, which grid was tied to the railroad. That's the reason Kyle doesn't run true north/south. It's on a flat piece of land and could be oriented in any fashion one desires. Memorial stadium is probably just off true north south because of the topography (there is a creek behind the west side of the stadium, and the east is built into a hill).

OSU is an interesting case--they changed their field orientation 90 degrees in order to take the wind out of the game (the prevailing wind is a cross wind now).

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Do you think fitting into the city grid and flow is a bigger factor than actual precise orientation for most stadiums?

You should tweet this to Junior Miller.

Ideally you want the home team in the shade and/or sun at their back and the away team in the sun.

Thus the home side seats will also get more shade as well.

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OSU is an interesting case--they changed their field orientation 90 degrees in order to take the wind out of the game (the prevailing wind is a cross wind now).

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Which I think is worse.

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Do you think fitting into the city grid and flow is a bigger factor than actual precise orientation for most stadiums?

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W/zero knowledge beyond this thread: I imagine most stadiums & attendant parking, facilities, ect... have a big enough foot print that they have fair latitude w/orientation. I would guess city grid is the larger factor, but they can normally do both (to a certain extent).

I think a lot of them are based on the lay of the land as they tended to utilize ravines or hillsides to avoid having to build stands upwards. I know that Auburn's stadium/field was built into a ravine which is why it doesn't run true north/south like the streets do for the most part.

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Do you think fitting into the city grid and flow is a bigger factor than actual precise orientation for most stadiums?

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That's hard to say. In the case of Kyle Field, they had all kinds of space to work with, but still ended up orienting it according to the street grid. Most college stadia were built in smaller towns, often on the fringes, where you wouldn't think the street grid would be an overriding concern (as opposed to the classic major league baseball parks built in the same era, where the street grid was extremely influential, but which were built in major urban areas). In the case of Kyle Field, I think it was just a matter of, "close enough for government work." The street grid orientation was close enough to north/south so as not to mandate orienting the field in a different manner.

Which came first? The railroad or the college...

Im guessing "precise orientation" was not something the have much thought on most of these

lol pokes

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Which came first? The railroad or the college...

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Brazos River-->railroad-->TAMU-->Kyle Field

So we have to change the FTAB wording to "now formed in the Slightly West of North End of Kyle Field..."??

That'd some pretty cool information. Thanks op.

I see someone has been on Reddit

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Which came first? The railroad or the college...

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Brazos River-->railroad-->TAMU-->Kyle Field-->listeater

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So we have to change the FTAB wording to "now formed in the Slightly West of North End of Kyle Field..."??

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We are am engineering school...

I think most stadiums are oriented N-S more or less because it puts the opposing teams bench in the afternoon sun while the home team's bench is in the shade.

Did you ever notice the sun was always shining in on the opposing teams bench when the Cowboys played at Texas Stadium. The hole was in the roof for a reason other than so God could watch his team play!

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Which came first? The railroad or the college...

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Brazos River-->railroad-->TAMC-->Kyle Field-->TAMU

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If we're gettin' technical

You can tell the difference at certain stadiums.

It does make a difference at Clemson!