{"id":428899,"date":"2026-09-07T17:50:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T17:50:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/428899\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T17:50:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T17:50:21","slug":"longhorns-fans-seek-relief-as-extreme-heat-hits-season-opener-at-dkr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/428899\/","title":{"rendered":"Longhorns fans seek relief as extreme heat hits season opener at DKR"},"content":{"rendered":"

AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Texas Longhorns opened their football season with a win over Texas State Saturday, but for thousands of fans, the biggest challenge was enduring extreme heat inside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.<\/p>\n

Temperatures in Austin reached 102 degrees. CBS Austin Meteorologist Michael Crowley said it felt even hotter.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith our temperature of 102 it actually felt like 104 or 105 degrees which is definitely dangerous to go to a football game in,\u201d Crowley said.<\/p>\n

More than 100,000 fans filled Bevo Boulevard before the game, but as kickoff approached, the heat intensified. Students said they could feel it as soon as they entered the stadium, especially in the sun-exposed student sections.<\/p>\n

A photo posted on X by fan Hunter Schuler showed a packed stadium concourse as fans sought relief from the heat during the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many heat casualties… I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time… People are huddled in the stadium like it’s a hurricane shelter. 2:30pm kickoff is a certified disaster,\u201d Schuler wrote.<\/p>\n

UT junior Sarah Crofford said the conditions were unlike any game she had attended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so hot. I think it was the hottest game I’ve ever been to,\u201d Crofford said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt like I was melting, honestly,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Austin-Travis County EMS reports 13 people transported from season’s first football game<\/a><\/p>\n

Austin-Travis County EMS confirmed it transported 13 patients from the game to local hospitals. At least three of those transports were heat-related, while others involved mixed symptoms.<\/p>\n

For fans sitting in sections 16 through 27 there was little to no shade.<\/p>\n

UT junior Isaac Konuma said he typically stays through the final whistle but left early because of the heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m usually one to stay the entire game, but I made it to the beginning of the third quarter and I just could not take it anymore. I could literally feel my body overheating. It was pretty bad,\u201d Konuma said.<\/p>\n

UT Athletics provided 16 free Water Monster hydration stations throughout the stadium and four St. David\u2019s cooling stations. Fans were also allowed to bring one sealed bottle of water inside.<\/p>\n

Still, Konuma said students need more access to free water in their seating areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you like to see them provide more free water in the student sections,” asked CBS Austin Reporter Bettie Cross.<\/p>\n

“Absolutely, 100%. I feel like that would help us a lot and keep the students there till the end of the game,\u201d Konuma said.<\/p>\n

Some students also said they would prefer more night games early in the season, though ESPN selects game broadcast times.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that when we’re in the South, we should still get some say over when the game times are,\u201d Crofford said.<\/p>\n

Meteorologists say the stadium\u2019s bowl shape can trap heat and its high walls can block breezes, making the stands feel hotter than the official temperature outside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 The Texas Longhorns opened their football season with a win over Texas State Saturday, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-428899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}