I felt like having them in the south end zone, pointed up the horseshoe, wasn't a bad idea. The shape of the stadium does a good job holding in the sound from bell-front instruments when they're enclosed on all sides in front of them. The same isn't true of woodwinds, but it's almost impossible to hear them through the brass anyway.
Most importantly, their orientation let the entire stadium hear them. Before, they were in section 26, and almost the entire east side couldn't hear the band, which meant few people clapped along to Texas Fight, and there was a lot of confusion when singing The Eyes. It's a better stadium atmosphere when all the fans clap, sing, and cheer together.
That said, section 18 is an improvement over section 26 from 10 years ago. 18 is more in a corner of an end zone, rather than on the goal line, and the band will probably point down the horseshoe. It sounds like their new placement is a good compromise of acoustics and crowd involvement. The north end zone upper deck won't hear them, but that's better than the entire east side. If the south end zone ever gets closed up, their sound will fill the stadium even better!
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Last edited: Feb 11, 2016