In 2013, I was working on the Smithsonian Channel’s Aerial America episode featuring Michigan. Production had arranged something rare for us: permission to film “The Big House” on an actual game day. This was no small feat—it required approval from both the FAA and the University of Michigan.

By then, I had been filming Aerial America for nearly seven years, and most of the stadiums we covered were empty. Coordinating a full stadium shoot on game day was usually impossible. After 9/11, Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) were put in place for stadiums with more than thirty thousand spectators, beginning one hour before kickoff and lasting until one hour after the game ended.

But on this day, we had been granted the rare clearance to fly. The difference was extraordinary. Seeing that massive crowd come alive beneath us changed everything—it brought an energy and scale that an empty stadium could never convey.