The Orientation of High School Football Fields

[snyderman]

How much thought goes into how to BEST orient a HS football field? Most I've been at are layed out in a manner that the length runs north and south from end zone to end zone with the HOME stands (the really high stands) situated to the WEST side of the field.

Not that I've shot in a hundred HS stadiums, but the handful I've shot at, and those I can recall being at, are all configured this way.

They could certainly provide better lighting for the hard-working photographers :rolleyes: if the facilities, a) put the visitor (short) stands on the west side, or; b) oriented the field going east to west with the west end of the facility OPEN, or; c) spent fewer dollars on turf fields and more on stadium lighting! :p

Thoughts?

dave

[MDteX]

The home team almost always has their back to the sun. The visiting team and supporters get to stare into the sun until it goes down. And in Texas that is a big deal! Think hot sun! Fields that run east and west pose a problem for the players looking into the sun.

So north/south fields with home on the west is the most common I've seen.

[FlyingPhotog]

- Home side to the west makes visitors look into the Sun
-Oriented N/S means no one plays directly into the sun and winds shouldn't favor one end zone or the other (given a prevailing westerly wind.)
-Money spent on field is for the relative safety of the players.

Even NCAA D1 games sometimes have to bring in Aux lighting if a game is to be televised.

[Golferdude1977]

MDtex and FlyingPhotog pretty much summed it up. We just renovated our stadium and are building a new one. Both fields will be oriented NNE/SSW.

On the turf field, it is the only logical thing for a school district to put down. Our high school grass field was being used for 135 events prior to us putting in artificial turf. It was basically dirt, mud when it rained, and then had ankle breaking holes when it dried. Most grass fields can with stand 35 events a year. After that you will be damaging it. So the only solution is an artificial turf field. Plus when you are put on water rationing during the summer, you don't have to water the grass. Our stadium put in new lights, 8 pole system which really distributed the lights out evenly on the field.

[DC Fan]

Different type of football, but a FIFA guide to football stadiums (http://www.fifa.com/mm/51/54/02/football_stadiums_technical_recommendations_and_re quirements_en_8211.pdf) says "A north-south field orientation is often considered ideal, but more sophisticated analysis has led stadium designers to choose an angle equal to the average direction of the sun at half-time in an afternoon game."

Most football fields in this area, whether U.S. or association football, run north-south.

[MDteX]

Our stadium put in new lights, 8 pole system which really distributed the lights out evenly on the field.

That should be awesome lighting! I'm green with envy! :mrgreen:

[raustin77]

Our High School field is oriented East West AND it has bad lighting. This really limits the directions you can shoot from during the day and at night you need a good camera and still have to use a flash. Track and field may be the hardest ... at the finish your shooting directly into the sun and half the events are ran from West to East so getting good long jump shots is extra hard. Give me a North South stadium any day!