Full name | NRG Arena at NRG Park |
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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°WCoordinates: 29°40′52″N 95°24′20″W / 29.68111°N 95.40556°W |
Owner | Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation |
Operator | SMG |
Capacity | 8,000 |
Construction | |
Opened | February 14, 1974 |
Architect | Lloyd Jones & Associates |
Main contractors | Pence Construction Company |
Tenants | |
Houston Angels (WBL) (1978–1980) Houston Hotshots (WISL) (1999–2000) Rice Owls (NCAA) (2007–2008) Houston Comets (WNBA) (2008) Houston Lightning (SIFL) (2010) |
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Website | |
Venue Info |
The NRG Arena (formerly the Astroarena and Reliant Arena), 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.
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 a location for events that cannot 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".
Construction of the Astroarena was completed in 1974 adjacent to the Astrohall. Although the Astrohall (renamed Reliant Hall temporarily) was demolished in May 2002 to make way for a parking lot when NRG Stadium was being completed. Astroarena was renamed to Reliant Arena in 2000 when Reliant Energy bought the sponsorship of the facility.
The Arena has since been utilized for several other events, including the National Catholic Youth Conference in 2003 and the peripheral events of the .
The Arena has also been a favorite stop for professional wrestling promotions, hosting multiple episodes of WCW Thunder and WWE SmackDown!. 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.