NRG Stadium
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NRG Stadium, formerly Reliant Stadium, is a multi-purpose
stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...
of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a
retractable roof A retractable roof is a roof system designed to roll back the roof of a structure so that the interior of the facility is open to the outdoors. Retractable roofs are sometimes referred to as operable roofs or retractable skylights. The term op ...
. The stadium is the home of the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...
's
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...
, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, many of the
United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...
's matches,
Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified con ...
friendlies where ''El Tri'' serves as the host, and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
s XXXVIII (2004) and LI (2017), and
WrestleMania 25 WrestleMania 25 (also marketed as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania and written as WrestleMania 25th Anniversary) was the 25th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WW ...
(2009). NRG Stadium is part of a collection of venues (including the Astrodome), which are collectively called NRG Park. The entire complex is named for
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in en ...
under a 32-year, $300 million naming rights deal in 2000.


History

The Houston NFL Holdings group came to Populous (then HOK Sport) to begin the schematic design for the first-ever NFL retractable roof football stadium in 1997. The intention was to create a football stadium to replace the Astrodome that would operate like an open-air facility but have the intimacy and comfort of an indoor arena. With the design for football and the square footage requirements of the rodeo, the building was designed in the range. Groundbreaking for the stadium was on March 9, 2000 and the building was officially
topped off In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlay ...
in October 2001. Construction was completed in 30 months. The stadium opened on August 24, 2002, with a preseason game between the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...
and Houston Texans which the Dolphins won 24–3. The stadium hosted its first regular season NFL football game between the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...
and the Houston Texans on September 8, 2002. The first rodeo was held in the stadium in February 2003. During a Texans preseason game on August 30, 2012, against the
Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...
, an intoxicated fan fell to his death from an escalator. On March 19, 2014, the stadium was renamed NRG Stadium, after
NRG Energy NRG Energy, Inc. is an American energy company, headquartered in Houston, Texas. It was formerly the wholesale arm of Northern States Power Company (NSP), which became Xcel Energy, but became independent in 2000. NRG Energy is involved in en ...
, the parent company of
Reliant Energy Reliant Energy is an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. History Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Reliant Energy, a subsidiary of NRG Energy, is one of the largest Texas electricity providers serving over 1.5 million Texans. Reliant ...
. During the 2015 season, a permanent artificial surface was installed at NRG Stadium. The Texans had used a natural surface since the stadium opened, using a system of trays of sod similar to one used at
Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted spo ...
in its experiment with using a grass surface. In recent years, the stadium installed artificial turf to be used during high school and college games while keeping the grass for Texans games. After the Texans' home opener, complaints about the field conditions finally led to the installation of the artificial surface for Texans games. The surface brand is UBU Speed, which is part of Act Global. In 2017, NRG Stadium selected Hellas Construction to install its Matrix Turf with Helix Technology at the stadium. The three year contract calls for a new turf field each year. After hosting Super Bowl LI, further upgrades were made to keep NRG Stadium competitive with other new NFL venues. The stadium's first major renovation in 15 years modernized the office and team facilities.


Hurricane Ike damage

On the night of September 12–13, 2008 the stadium sustained damage from
Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...
forcing the
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...
home opener scheduled for September 14 to be postponed. Part of the roof cladding came off, and there was wind and water damage to other sections of the stadium. There were also large pieces of debris inside the stadium from the hurricane and the stadium authority declared that the stadium did not suffer significant structural damage except for the roof, and the Texans would be able to play all of their 8 home games at Reliant Stadium with the roof open. The Texans' home opener against the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...
was initially postponed one day from Sunday, September 14, 2008 to Monday, September 15, but when the extent of the damage from Hurricane Ike became known, the NFL rescheduled the Texans-Ravens game to week 10 (November 9, 2008), which was to have been the bye week for the Ravens and the Texans' scheduled home game against the
Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...
. That game was rescheduled to week 8 (October 26), which was to have been the bye week for both the Texans and Bengals. The Bengals bye week was moved from October 26 to November 9, originally scheduled for the Ravens. Both the Texans and Ravens took their unexpected bye week in week 2, the weekend Hurricane Ike hit East Texas and the Gulf Coast, despite the fact that both teams were preparing that whole week to play that game as scheduled. The stadium reopened on October 5, 2008 when the Texans hosted the
Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...
and hosted three additional home games in October. The stadium was repaired by Houston-based rope access inspection and construction firm Reel Group Americas on February 13, 2009.


Design and technology

The stadium was designed by the architectural firms of Hermes Reed Architects and Lockwood, Andrews and Newnam who were teamed to create the Houston Stadium Consultants (HSC). The architects of Populous (then HOK Sport) and the HSC worked together with engineers from Walter P Moore and Uni-Systems to design the stadium utilizing the principles of kinetic architecture. The facility offers a sense of transparency, with its fabric roof and expansive areas of glazing. At night, the building appears to glow from within. The extensive use of glass provides an open-air feel to the
concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...
s, which are open to the field of play. NRG Stadium has over 7,000 club seats, 186
luxury suite The luxury box (or skybox) and club seating constitute the most exclusive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of th ...
s, and multiple lounges and bars. The stadium can be configured to utilize a space for meetings, specialty functions, exhibits, and concerts. One of the most notable aspects of the design is the stadium's retractable, fabric roof. The roof mechanization consists of two large panels that split apart at the 50 yard line, lying over and above each end zone when fully retracted. 10 parallel, tri-chord
truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembl ...
es ride on two parallel rails, each supported by a large, -long super-truss. Roof operation is controlled in the stadium press box via computer, containing live images of the travel path of each roof panel; plus, furnishing live feedback from all roof components throughout the operation. The roof panels can be opened or closed in as little as 7 minutes, moving at a speed of up to -per-minute. One bleacher section behind the north
end zone The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...
, called the "Bull Pen", is the designated fan section for the hometeam. The fans in the Bull Pen interact directly with the action on the field, helping to create and implement fan traditions, songs, chants, and other elements of the game-day experience for spectators all over the stadium. Fans in the Bull Pen are encouraged to stand throughout the game, sing, cheer, and otherwise support the team in an enthusiastic manner. In 2011, Reliant updated their logo and therefore had to update their signage all over the stadium. In December 2012, it was announced that, in order to help bring the
Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...
back to Houston, the stadium's end zone displays would be replaced with the largest digital displays in any professional sports venue. The video screens were revealed August 16, 2013 and are the second largest of their kind, at a total of of screens. This tops the previous record of
AT&T Stadium AT&T Stadium, formerly Cowboys Stadium, is a retractable-roof stadium in Arlington, Texas, United States. It serves as the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL), and was completed on May 27, 2009. It is also the ho ...
in Arlington. This has since been topped by the digital display boards located in TIAA Bank Field, the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars, now home to the largest digital display boards in any stadium in the world.


Stadium usage


Sports


Football

The
Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their home games at NR ...
have played their home games at NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium) since their inception in 2002. The annual calendar consists of 8
regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...
and 1-2 pre-season games, plus any playoff games the Texans host. The first game played was on August 24, 2002, in front of 69,432 in attendance as the Texans hosted the
Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...
in their first preseason game. The first regular season game was played on September 8 of that year, where the expansion Texans defeated the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...
19–10 in front of 69,604. The first
Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...
game in Texans history was held on December 1, 2008 at Reliant Stadium. Playing in front of a then-franchise-record crowd of 70,809, the Texans defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 30–17. Since then that record crowd has been broken in the next 2 Texans home games of that season. Their December 7, 2008 home game against the Tennessee Titans saw a then-record crowd of 70,831 and the December 28, 2008 home finale against the
Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...
drew then a current franchise-crowd record of 70,838. That record was broken on November 23, 2009, when a record crowd of 71,153 was in attendance during the Texans' second ever Monday Night Football game against Houston's former NFL team, the Tennessee Titans. The Texans' home finale of the 2009 season against the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
on January 3, 2010 drew 71,029. NRG Stadium has hosted 2 Super Bowls:
Super Bowl XXXVIII Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Carolina Panthers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) ch ...
(which was marred by a controversial halftime show) and Super Bowl LI (which was the first Super Bowl to go into overtime); both games pitted the
New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...
against a team from the
NFC South The National Football Conference – Southern Division or NFC South is one of the four Division (sport), divisions of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). It was created prior to the 2002 NFL season, when ...
. NRG Stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004 where the New England Patriots defeated the
Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. ...
, 32–29 in front of 71,525 in attendance. NRG Stadium hosted the Texans' first playoff game in franchise history on January 7, 2012, with Houston defeating the
Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...
31–10 in an AFC wild card game, drawing 71,725, the largest crowd ever to see a Texans game at Reliant Stadium. NRG Stadium hosted Super Bowl LI in 2017, in which the New England Patriots defeated the
Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcon ...
34-28 in the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history; it was also the first ever
overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society) ...
game in Super Bowl history.


Rodeo

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (or RodeoHouston) is a co-tenant of NRG Stadium. "The building is as much for the
rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaq ...
as it is for the National Football League," according to Leroy Shafer who is assistant general manager of the rodeo's marketing department. The rodeo is held three weeks in March, each year. During this time NRG Stadium also hosts an event on the Xtreme Bulls tour, the bull riding-only tour that is part of the PRCA, who also hosts the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The stadium includes a service area level to house rodeo
livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...
. The bulls, broncs, steers and roping calves are housed in the north end of the stadium under the lower bowl. Loading and unloading dock space to support the rodeo is located on the north end of the stadium. During rodeo performances, rolling doors will separate the dock into two receiving areas to isolate the food and concession deliveries from the rodeo equipment and livestock deliveries. A concert performance stage is located at the south end of the stadium during rodeo events and is moved into the center of the facility by a hydraulic drive system for rodeo concert performances. On February 25, 2012, the
PBR PBR may refer to: Science and technology * Passive bistatic radar * Partition boot record * Pebble bed reactor, a type of nuclear reactor * Peripheral benzodiazepine receptor, another name for translocator protein * Phosphorus bromide * Photo ...
brought its premier bull riding tour, the Built Ford Tough Series, to Reliant Stadium for the first time ever. It was the first time that a PBR event was a part of RodeoHouston. In addition, it was their first event in Houston in 11 years, after having previously held an event at the Compaq Center annually between 1998 and 2001.


College football

College football's Texas Bowl and Texas Kickoff are annually hosted at the stadium. The first-ever edition of the Texas Bowl featured a game between
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
and
Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...
, with Rutgers winning 37–10. The stadium hosted the Houston Bowl before the Texas Bowl's inception and also hosted both the 2002 and 2005
Big 12 Championship Game The Big 12 Championship Game is a college football game held by the Big 12 Conference between the best and the second-best Big 12 team. The game was played each year since the conference's formation in 1996 until 2010 and returned during the 201 ...
s. The 2005 game featured Houston native Vince Young at quarterback for the
University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
and led the Longhorns to a 70–3 rout of the
University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...
in front of 71,107. In addition, the
East–West Shrine Game East West (or East and West) may refer to: * East–West dichotomy, the contrast between Eastern and Western society or culture Arts and entertainment Books, journals and magazines *''East, West'', an anthology of short stories written by Salm ...
was held there in 2007. A Bayou Classic game between Grambling State and Southern was held here in November 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina damage at the rivalry's usual venue of the Superdome. Each of the city's two
Division I FBS The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...
schools, the
University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...
and
Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
, has played regular season home games at NRG Stadium in the past. The Houston–Rice football rivalry game, the
Bayou Bucket Classic In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...
, was held there in 2004, and in 2011, the game was announced to be played at Reliant Stadium for the 2012 and 2013 seasons as well. The stadium also hosts the "
Battle of the Piney Woods The Battle of the Piney Woods is a Football Championship Subdivision college football rivalry between Sam Houston State University (SHSU) located in Huntsville, Texas and Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) located in Nacogdoches, Texas. ...
" since 2010. It is one of the oldest football rivalries in Texas, featuring
Division I FCS The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...
Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University. The series was originally scheduled to run until 2013, before being extended to 2017, and finally in April 2015, the stadium was made the permanent home of the series. The two largest
historically black universities Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
in
Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...
,
Texas Southern University Texas Southern University (Texas Southern or TSU) is a public historically black university in Houston, Texas. The university is one of the largest and most comprehensive historically black college or universities in the USA with nearly 10,00 ...
and Prairie View A&M University, each have played selected regular season home games at NRG Stadium as well. The
SWAC Championship Game The SWAC Championship Game, officially the Cricket Wireless SWAC Championship Game, is an American college football game that is held annually on the first Saturday in December by the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) to determine its foot ...
was held at the stadium from 2013 until 2017. In 2017, NRG Stadium was announced as a future site for the
College Football Playoff National Championship The College Football Playoff National Championship is a post-season college football bowl game, used to determine a national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), which began play in the 2014 college football season. ...
game; it will host the event in January 2024 (ending the 2023 college football season).


High school football

NRG Stadium is regularly utilized by varsity football teams as a neutral site during the
University Interscholastic League The University Interscholastic League (UIL) is an organization that creates rules for and administers almost all athletic, musical, and academic contests for public primary and secondary schools in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest organi ...
football playoffs.


Soccer

NRG Stadium also hosts international soccer matches. The games are generally held in the spring and summer before the NFL season starts. The stadium hosted
CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...
matches from 2005 to 2011. The Gold Cup matches in 2007 included Round 1 matches, and a quarterfinal doubleheader match. The venue's attendance record was set during a preparation match between the Mexico national team and the U.S. men's soccer team. On February 6, 2008, USA–Mexico was held at Reliant Stadium to a capacity crowd of 70,103. The previous USA vs.
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
match in Reliant Stadium drew a sellout crowd of 69,582 fans on May 8, 2003 and is the largest home crowd for the U.S. men's national team this decade, until the USA played Mexico for a capacity crowd of 79,156 fans in
Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted spo ...
in East Rutherford, New Jersey for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup Final. Reliant Stadium hosted the 2010 MLS All-Star Game as 70,728 fans watched Manchester United defeat the MLS All-Stars 5–2. On January 25, 2012,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
played a friendly match with Mexico, with Mexico winning 3–1. On May 31, 2013, Mexico played another friendly, with
Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...
, which ended in a 2–2 draw. In June 2016, NRG Stadium hosted two matches in the group stage and one semifinal in the
Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...
. Costa Rica beat Colombia 3-2. Mexico and Venezuela drew 1-1. Argentina beat United States 4-0. Lionel Messi scored a free kick, making him Argentina's all-time leading scorer.


2026 FIFA World Cup

NRG Stadium will host multiple matches during the
2026 World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international men's soccer championship contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament will be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three ...
.


College basketball

The stadium has hosted the
NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...
several times, including the 2008,
2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
& 2015 South Regional semifinals and finals, and the Final Four in
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and 2016. It will host the Final Four again in
2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...
.


Motorsports

For the past eighteen years, NRG Stadium has played host to
Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some additiona ...
. Also, it has hosted a round of the
AMA Supercross Championship The AMA Supercross Championship (commercially known as Monster Energy AMA Supercross) is an American motorcycle racing series. Founded by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1974, the AMA Supercross Championship races are held from J ...
since 2003, replacing the Astrodome which had been host since 1974.


Concerts

The stadium is a regular concert venue and has featured performers such as
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
, U2,
Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...
, and
Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...
over the years.


Hockey

*On September 23, 2011 the
Dallas Stars The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and were founded during the 1967 NHL expansion as the Minne ...
and the Phoenix Coyotes were scheduled to play a preseason game. This proposed game was later canceled citing costs to put ice in the stadium.


Other events

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...
uses executive offices in the stadium to teach a professional sports management class. The
Howdy Modi The following is a list of international prime ministerial trips made by Narendra Modi since he became the Prime Minister of India following the 2014 Indian general election. He did not make any international trips in 2020 due to COVID-19 pand ...
event was held on September 22, 2019 by Texas India Forum. During the summer of 2019, the stadium hosted two international conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses, gathering thousands of delegates from around the world. The stadium is used by some Houston area school districts for their annual high school graduation ceremonies from late-May to mid-June. Examples include
Houston ISD The Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest public school system in Texas, and the eighth-largest in the United States. Houston ISD serves as a community school district for most of the city of Houston and several nearby and ...
, Fort Bend ISD, Galena Park ISD,
Klein ISD Klein Independent School District (Klein ISD) is a school district that covers in Harris County, Texas, United States. It became an independent school district in 1938. Almost all of the territory is unincorporated; a small portion of Houston i ...
, and Cypress Fairbanks ISD.


See also

* Astrodome *
History of Houston This article documents the wide-ranging history of the city of Houston, the largest city in the state of Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States. The City of Houston was founded in 1837 after Augustus and John Allen had acquired lan ...
*
List of current National Football League stadiums A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...


Notes


External links

*
NRG Stadium
at StadiumDB.com
NRG Stadium Seating Chart
{{Authority control Sports venues completed in 2002 National Football League venues NCAA bowl game venues Retractable-roof stadiums in the United States Rodeo venues in the United States CONCACAF Gold Cup stadiums 2026 FIFA World Cup Stadiums American football venues in Houston Houston Texans stadiums Big 12 Championship Game venues 2002 establishments in Texas Music venues in Houston Wrestling venues in Houston Soccer venues in Houston College basketball venues in the United States NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four venues Basketball venues in Texas