NRG Stadium
NRG Stadium is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, U.S. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to have a retractable roof.
The stadium is the home of the National Football League's Houston Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, many of the United States men's national soccer team's matches, Mexico national football team friendlies where El Tri serves as the host, and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowls XXXVIII and LI, the 2024 College Football Playoff National Championship, and WrestleMania 25. The stadium will host multiple matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
NRG Stadium is part of a collection of venues, which are collectively called NRG Park. The entire complex is named for NRG Energy under a 32-year, $300 million naming rights deal in 2000.
History
The Houston NFL Holdings group came to 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 October 2001. Construction was completed in 30 months.The stadium opened on August 24, 2002, with a preseason game between the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans which the Dolphins won 24–3. The stadium hosted its first regular season NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans on September 8, 2002, which the Texans won against their interstate rival 19–10. The first rodeo was held in the stadium in February 2003.
During a Texans preseason game on August 30, 2012, against the Minnesota Vikings, an intoxicated fan fell to his death from an escalator.
On March 19, 2014, the stadium was renamed NRG Stadium, after NRG Energy, the parent company of Reliant Energy.
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 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.
On April 19, 2023, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo renamed NRG Stadium to NRG Stadium to celebrate Taylor Swift's much anticipated Eras Tour.
On December 25, 2024, the first ever halftime show for the NFL's Christmas Gameday was headlined by Beyoncé at NRG Stadium.
Hurricane Ike damage
On the night of September 12–13, 2008, the stadium sustained damage from Hurricane Ike, forcing the Houston Texans 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 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, which was to have been the bye week for the Ravens and the Texans' scheduled home game against the Cincinnati Bengals. That game was rescheduled to week 8, which was to have been the bye week for both the Texans and Bengals. The Bengals' bye week was moved from October 26. 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 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. The architects of Populous 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 concourses, which are open to the field of play. NRG Stadium has over 7,000 club seats, 186 luxury suites, 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 trusses 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, 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 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 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 have played their home games at NRG Stadium since their inception in 2002. The annual calendar consists of 8 or 9 regular season 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 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 19–10 in front of 69,604. The first Monday Night Football 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 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 on January 3, 2010, drew 71,029.NRG Stadium has hosted 2 Super Bowls: Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl LI ; both games pitted the New England Patriots against a team from the NFC South.
NRG Stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004, where the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers, 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 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 34–28 in the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history; it was also the first ever overtime game in Super Bowl history.