It’s possible that in the 2027 season, the Tennessee Titans will play at least one of their nine home games in the late afternoon. Kickoff somewhere around 3 p.m. Central Time, which will end at dusk, depending on the time of year.
The Titans will break into what is today known as New Nissan Stadium, a $2 billion-plus project adjacent to their current digs that will make the West Bank shine and (most likely) eventually host a Super Bowl.
The sun will continue its usual disappearing act below Earth’s horizon, and at one point, sunlight will peek through the windows on the west side of the stadium. The rays would be strong in the new stadium. It would be difficult for quarterbacks throwing toward that end zone — or pass catchers looking back, depending on who has possession — to see what’s in front of them.
Would be. Not will. Because the Titans will use what amounts to blackout shades on the glass to make sure that doesn’t happen.
What the Dallas Cowboys have refused to do for over a decade, the Tennessee Titans have already prepared to do years from now. The Titans, the stadium’s designers and engineers, conducted a solar analysis during the stadium planning development stages, determining where the sun will be each day of the year and when exactly, on certain days, it might pose a problem.
The solution: use retractable blinds on the accordion-shaped glass doors to prevent the sun from penetrating the property.
This past Sunday afternoon, Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb failed to find the ball on what should have been an easy touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles while he was staring at the star 93 million miles away. After the match, he declared himself “a thousand percent” in favor of installing sunglasses.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones likes things the way they are. AT&T Stadium opened in 2009 with windows like this, and they will remain so for the foreseeable future. The stadium can and does erect shades for other events like concerts, but not for the Cowboys.
“My biggest thought when we were building it was, ‘Don’t make it look like it’s not outside.’ Make it look like it’s outside,” Jones said. “This stadium was built to feel like the outside when you’re inside, and it was built to let the sunlight in.”
Jones would go on to say that the team knows where the sun will be and players like Kellen Moore have already taken that into account.
“It really falls into the home-field advantage category,” Jones said. “It should be an advantage for the home team, so I don’t want to adjust it for one reason: it’s an advantage for us. …That’s our advantage. This should be our advantage. We can play there more and that is an advantage. It was an advantage for us to know where the sun is. I don’t want to change that.
A question many are asking goes to the heart of this competitive advantage. Could the Cowboys install sunglasses when the sun affects the home team? Or could the Cowboys lower the shades only when the sun’s rays impact play on the field?
The answer: No.
CBS Sports obtained a copy of the NFL’s league-wide policy on stadium procedures, and the league has already reviewed these issues and more.
“90 minutes before kick-off, the home club is required to inform the referee whether the roof, wall and/or curtains are to be opened or closed,” the policy states. “The opening or closing must be completed no later than 60 minutes before kick-off. (The designated position for the curtains will remain unchanged throughout the game.) »
So what is decided in any stadium 90 minutes before is what will remain for the duration of the match. But there may be an exception, and we saw it two weeks ago at State Farm Stadium.
In Week 9, the Cardinals had to close the roof during the game against the Bears due to hail in the Glendale area. This is allowed in the policy since hail is considered a “hazardous condition.” Once closed, it must remain closed for the rest of the game.
It’s impossible to imagine sunlight being considered a dangerous condition, so any temporary shadow would be permanent for an entire game.
Let’s return to heliocentrism. Most NFL stadiums have north/south facing fields, so the sun is not such a factor on the field like it is at the Cowboys.
The Falcons play at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a round complex with an east/west orientation. But the glass side of Atlanta Stadium is to the east, and the Falcons don’t get up to play a game at 8 a.m.
US Bank Stadium faces northwest/southeast, but Minnesota players haven’t received any complaints about the sun. Additionally, the translucent roof features “sintering” that diffuses some of the direct light during Vikings games.
In Tennessee, the Titans determined they needed to have an east/west orientation for their future stadium. Soil testing of available land in the developing West Bank showed the organization that there was really only one way to position the stadium. Hence the nuances.
As long as there have been humans on earth, there have been attempts to hide from the sun’s rays. Except in Jerry’s World.
