NRG Arena

NRG Arena

Full name	NRG Arena at NRG Park
Former names	Astroarena (1974-2000) Reliant Arena (2000–2014)
Location	NRG Park 1 NRG Park Houston, TX 77054
Coordinates	29°40′52″N 95°24′20″W / 29.68111°N 95.40556°W / 29.68111; -95.40556Coordinates: 29°40′52″N 95°24′20″W / 29.68111°N 95.40556°W / 29.68111; -95.40556
Owner	Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation
Operator	SMG
Capacity	8,000
Construction
Opened	February 14, 1974 (1974-02-14)
Architect	Lloyd Jones & Associates
Main contractors	Pence Construction Company
Tenants
Houston Hotshots (WISL) (2000) Houston Comets (WNBA) (2008) Houston Lightning (SIFL) (2010)[1] Rice Owls (NCAA) (2007-08)
Website
Venue Info

The NRG Arena,^[2] formerly the "Astroarena" and the "Reliant Arena",^[3] is a 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) sports center in NRG Park, in Houston, Texas, USA. It is one of the state's major arenas and convention centers.

Building format

The NRG Arena consists of multiple rooms and divisions on two separate floors.

The main partition on the first floor is the "Arena Proper", a 24,000 gross square foot arena that seats up to 8,500 people. While dwarfed by the stadiums within the complex (the NRG Astrodome seats 60,000 and NRG Stadium seats 70,000) as well as other arenas in the city (the Toyota Center seats 18,500, TDECU Stadium seats 40,000, and Minute Maid Park seats 42,000), it serves as an ideal location for events that cannot possibly fill such large arenas.

In addition to the Arena Proper, there are four exhibit halls within the NRG Arena. The largest hall is Exhibit Hall D, boasting 100,000 square feet (10,000 m²) of space. The second is Exhibit Hall A, which has 75,000 square feet (7,000 m²) of space. Exhibit Halls B and C each have 50,000 square feet (5,000 m²) of floor space as well.

The upper level maintains smaller meeting rooms and office space as well as the "Stockman's Club".

History

Construction of the NRG Arena originated in the early 1970s and completed in 1974 adjacent to the Astrohall. Although the Astrohall (renamed Reliant Hall temporarily) was its next door neighbor, it was demolished in May 2002 to make way for a parking lot when NRG Stadium was being completed.

The Arena has since been utilized for several other events, including the National Catholic Youth Conference in 2003 and the peripheral events of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The Arena has also been a favorite stop for professional wrestling promotions. Over the past decade, it has hosted multiple episodes of WCW Thunder and WWE SmackDown!, shows hosted by each company. Additionally, it hosted WCW's Fall Brawl pay per view in 1993. In July 2008, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held its Victory Road 2008 pay-per-view event at the arena.

After previously occupying the Compaq Center from 1998 to 2000, the PBR held a Bud Light Cup event in Reliant Arena in 2001; this was their last big-league event in Houston to date.

In 2005, the Arena was used as a shelter for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina after it was deemed that the Reliant Astrodome would be insufficient for comfortably housing over 30,000 residents. It served as auxiliary housing for victims of Hurricane Katrina along with other parts of Reliant Park, and was the site of the field clinic set up to care for those displaced by the hurricane. This led to the cancellation of a My Chemical Romance concert, which led to a small riot.

On July 16, 2007 the arena played host to the first indoor stop on the 2007 Vans Warped Tour.

Reliant Arena became the home of the Women's National Basketball Association's Houston Comets for what proved to be their final season, 2008.^[4]

On March 12, 2014, the arena was renamed as the NRG Arena, replacing the Reliant name.

References

External links

• Arena details and floorplans
• More Reliant Arena details and floorplans