SaberCats 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 its m ...

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 ...

Houston, Texas 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 in ...

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 territorie ...

as part of

Houston Sports Park Houston Sports Park is an urban park that serves as a multi-purpose sports and entertainment facility in the Five Corners District of Houston near the neighborhood of City Park. Houston Sports Park (HSP) houses Aveva Stadium, which is the home o ...

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 fi ...

Major League Rugby Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Off ...

. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018. Naming rights for the stadium were initially purchased by British information technology company AVEVA, and it was opened as AVEVA Stadium on April 13, 2019. Following the 2022 season, its name officially changed to "SaberCats Stadium". It 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

Aveva Stadium Construction, February 2019

Aveva Stadium - West Side Stands with Fans

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

located roughly three miles from NRG Park 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. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 24, 2018, with the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, representing the city.

Opening and current use

Construction was still ongoing as the venue opened as "AVEVA Stadium" on April 13, 2019 with a game against the

Seattle Seawolves The Seattle Seawolves are an American professional rugby union team based in Tukwila, Washington. The team was founded in 2017 and competes in Major League Rugby (MLR), the top-level rugby union competition in the United States that began play ...

. 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 The American Raptors is a professional rugby union team based in the municipality of Glendale in Colorado. The team plays in the transcontinental Super Rugby Americas competition . Established as the Glendale Raptors in 2006, the team was a found ...

. Beginning in 2022,

Houston Dynamo 2 Houston Dynamo 2 is an American professional soccer team that is located in Houston, Texas. It is the reserve team of Houston Dynamo FC and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, Houston Dynamo FC were named as one of 21 c ...

, the reserve side of MLS club Houston Dynamo, began playing home matches at the stadium. As naming rights with AVEVA ended, it became known as "SaberCats Stadium" beginning with the 2022 season.

Other events

SaberCats Stadium has hosted non-MLR events. In 2022 it hosted both the

Division 1-A Rugby Division 1-A Rugby (formerly known as the College Premier Division) is the highest level of college rugby within the United States and is administered by USA Rugby. Division 1-A rugby is modeled after NCAA athletic competitions, with the 67 D1-A ...

final 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 Stat ...

in a match against the

French Barbarians The Barbarian Rugby Club, more commonly known as the French Barbarians, is a rugby union team formed in 1979 and based in France. It was founded as an amateur invitational team modeled on the Barbarian F.C. From the start of the 2017–18 season, ...

. Also, beginning in 2023 it is the home of the UFA team Houston Havoc, a professional

Ultimate Frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

team.

Facilities

SaberCats Stadium's overall facilities include a 1,200-car 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. The stadium's east and west side stands are

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

s with individual seats. The south side stands feature a mix of bleacher 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 berms. 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