[Farm93]

The 6 or 7PM kicks are the way to go for August or September games.  In theory, the late ending time will scare away the family with kids 10 and younger, but the potential for daytime heat does the same thing.  AYSO consumes a lot of family mornings and early afternoons, so later kicks probably are better for most sports oriented families anyway.

After a few years of OC living I am now able to tolerate the heat. In reality, I stayed the whole game because my AYSO commitments will make it impossible to attend the next two games.  Which is killing me, but even if I lived in the SF Bay Area I would probably have similar schedule conflicts.  My kids are only in this range once, but it has helped me appreciate that while nostalgia drives some loyalty to afternoon kicks, AYSO, skin cancer awareness, and the stadium layout make evening games the obvious choice.  It may be the better option for any football Saturday, but the night kicks are definitely better for August and September.

The lack of students at early season games is just a Stanford reality.  I discovered in the stands that 43% of the undergrads are from California, but California is a big state and I would not expect an LA/OC/SD based student to drive up just for that game. I did it, but I think most 20 year old kids would just opt to watch the game on a home TV, or even on a mobile device. 

[Farm93]

The 6 or 7PM kicks are the way to go for August or September games.  In theory, the late ending time will scare away the family with kids 10 and younger, but the potential for daytime heat does the same thing.  AYSO consumes a lot of family mornings and early afternoons, so later kicks probably are better for most sports oriented families anyway.

After a few years of OC living I am now able to tolerate the heat. In reality, I stayed the whole game because my AYSO commitments will make it impossible to attend the next two games.  Which is killing me, but even if I lived in the SF Bay Area I would probably have similar schedule conflicts.  My kids are only in this range once, but it has helped me appreciate that while nostalgia drives some loyalty to afternoon kicks, AYSO, skin cancer awareness, and the stadium layout make evening games the obvious choice.  It may be the better option for any football Saturday, but the night kicks are definitely better for August and September.

The lack of students at early season games is just a Stanford reality.  I discovered in the stands that 43% of the undergrads are from California, but California is a big state and I would not expect an LA/OC/SD based student to drive up just for that game. I did it, but I think most 20 year old kids would just opt to watch the game on a home TV, or even on a mobile device.