Aveva Stadium is a
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
stadium in
Houston, Texas,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
as part of
Houston Sports Park and is the home of the
Houston SaberCats
The Houston SaberCats are an American professional rugby union team based in Houston, Texas. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby, the top-level rugby union competition in the United States and Canada that played its f ...
of
Major League Rugby. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018.
Naming rights for the stadium were purchased by British information technology company
Aveva
AVEVA Group plc is a British multinational information technology consulting company headquartered in Cambridge, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company started as the Comp ...
, and was opened on April 13, 2019. Aveva Stadium is the first stadium in the league built specifically for use by Major League Rugby, and the second rugby-specific stadium primarily for professional competition in the United States.
History
Planning and funding
In March 2017, local rugby organization and predecessor to the Houston SaberCats, the Houston Strikers publicly announced their plans to build a stadium at the
Houston Sports Park located roughly three miles from
NRG Park
NRG Park, formerly Reliant Park and Astrodomain, is a complex in Houston, named after the energy company NRG Energy. It is located on Kirby Drive at the South Loop West Freeway (I-610). This complex of buildings encompasses of land and consists ...
and eight miles from Downtown Houston along the South Freeway. The group also released several other key details such as early renderings, an estimated cost of $10 million, and a 5,000 person initial capacity.
Leading up to the inaugural season of the team, the City of Houston agreed to partially fund a permanent stadium with a contribution of $3.2 million in February 2018. The ownership group expects to invest an additional $12.0 million of their own funds to construct the 3-field, multi-use facility. Details of the deal, outlined in Houston City Ordinance 2018–0085, also confirmed the construction on city-owned property in south Houston at Houston Sports Park, with the city maintaining ownership and leasing stadium grounds back to the team for a 43-year term.
Design and construction
On July 8, the Houston SaberCats released new preliminary architectural drawings and a groundbreaking announcement for July 24, 2018 via Instagram and then via press release several days later.
On July 17, the SaberCats announced naming rights were awarded to
Aveva
AVEVA Group plc is a British multinational information technology consulting company headquartered in Cambridge, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company started as the Comp ...
.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018, with the
mayor of Houston
The following is a list of people who have served as mayor of the city of Houston in the U.S. state of Texas.
Until 2015, the term of the mayor was two years. Beginning with the tenure of Bob Lanier, the city charter imposed term limits on offi ...
,
Sylvester Turner
Sylvester Turner (born September 27, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who is serving as the 62nd mayor of Houston, Texas. A member of the Democratic Party, Turner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until 201 ...
, representing the city.
Opening and current use
Construction was still ongoing as Aveva Stadium opened on April 13, 2019 with a game against the
Seattle Seawolves.
After its inauguration, previous games were played before the grand opening, which was postponed and took place on May 29, 2019. The Houston team played against the
Glendale Raptors.
Beginning in 2022,
Houston Dynamo 2, the reserve side of MLS club Houston Dynamo, began playing home matches at the stadium.
Other events
Aveva Stadium has hosted non-MLR events. It 2022 it hosted both the
Collegiate Rugby Championship
The Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC) is an annual college rugby sevens tournament. The CRC is the highest profile college rugby sevens competition in the United States, with the tournament broadcast live on NBC from 2010–2017, on ESPN News an ...
XVs and the
United States national rugby union team
The United States men's national rugby union team represents the United States in men's international rugby union. Nicknamed the Eagles, it is controlled by USA Rugby, the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United Sta ...
in a match against the
French Barbians.
Facilities
Aveva Stadium's overall facilities include a 1,200 parking lot and two secondary fields for multipurpose use. While seating capacity exceeds 3,000, the stadium features up to 4,000 maximum capacity by utilizing standing room only areas. The venue is primarily the home of the Houston SaberCats professional Rugby team but can accommodate other sports and non-sports events due to the large size of the fields.
Both the east and west side stands of the stadium are
grandstands with individual seats. The south side stands feature a mix of
bleacher
Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a ro ...
and individual seats, while the north side stands are uncovered bleacher seating. Also located on the south end of the stadium, below the video board, is a full-service bar known as the "Cat's Den" and two
berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...
s. Both the bar area and berms allow for general standing.
References
External links
Houston SaberCats website
{{Houston SaberCats
Houston SaberCats
Houston SaberCats stadiums
Major League Rugby stadiums
Rugby union stadiums in Houston
Rugby union stadiums in Texas
Rugby union stadiums in the United States
2019 establishments in Texas
Sports venues completed in 2019
Soccer venues in Texas