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NRG Park, formerlyReliant Park andAstrodomain, is a complex inHouston, named after the energy companyNRG Energy. It is located on Kirby Drive at the South Loop West Freeway (I-610). This complex of buildings encompasses 350 acres (1.4 km2) of land and consists of four venues:NRG Stadium,NRG Center,NRG Arena andNRG Astrodome.
The complex hosts many sporting events and conventions each year, the largest of which areHouston Texans home games, and theHouston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
The complex is served by theStadium Park / Astrodome station, alight rail station on the Red Line of theMETRORail light rail system. It also includes one of the world's largest parking lots (holding 26,000 total) and sees nearly 750 events yearly. Until 2005, the lot also served as a parking lot forSix Flags Astroworld, which has since closed. Since 2018, it served as the site of theAstroworld Festival, an annualmusic festival run byTravis Scott, which became the site ofa deadly crowd crush in 2021.[1][2][3]
NRG Stadium, home to theHouston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, was the home ofSuper Bowl XXXVIII (held February 1, 2004), where the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 and where theSuper Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy took place. The stadium also hostedSuper Bowl LI (held February 5, 2017), also won by the Patriots after storming back from down 25 points to the Atlanta Falcons, winning 34–28 in overtime. NRG Stadium hostedWrestleMania XXV on April 5, 2009, with a sellout attendance of 72,774 and a live gate of $6.9 million.
The stadium was the first NFL stadium with a retractable roof and natural grass. The stadium can be configured to utilize a 125,000-square-foot (11,600 m2) space for general session, catered functions, exhibits, concerts, and much more. In addition, NRG Stadium offers four massive concourse levels for special events. The design of the stadium roof provides a very flexible rigging configuration for major audio and visual presentations. 200 suites complement NRG Stadium.
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The NRG Center is a convention center located among the sports venues in NRG Park. It opened in 2002 and hosts various events year-round, including portions of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, who maintains its offices on the second floor of the building. It runs over ¼ mile in length.
Offering over 706,000 square feet (65,600 m2) of contiguous single-level exhibit space divisible into 11 separate halls, NRG Center contains 61 meeting rooms configurable into over 100 variations, 2 major conference centers, 118 loading bays, over 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) of registration space. NRG Center is equipped with a technological infrastructure capable of providinghigh-speed internet access, pre-wiredfiber optic cabling backbone, on-site production facilities, 120 television monitors, and web-casting abilities. Exclusive services include on-site support from telephone and internet, electrical, food and beverage, rigging, security and event staffing. Each meeting room has its own dedicated sound, lighting and networking capabilities. A 280,000-square-foot (26,000 m2) marshalling area on-site with over 200,000 square feet (20,000 m2) of space for shuttle transportation.
Along with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, NRG Center hosts some of the largest conventions and trade shows in Houston. Some examples of these events are the Offshore Technology Conference, Nutcracker Market,Houston Auto Show, International Gem & Jewelry Show, Houston Gun Collector's and Antique Show, and the Houston Boat, Sport and Travel Show - to name a few.
TheNRG Arena, formerly known as the "Astro Arena", is a 350,000-square-foot (33,000 m2) sports center. It was completed in 1971 and located adjacent to theAstro Hall (later renamed the Reliant Hall), which was later demolished in May 2002 to make room for more parking. The Arena has been the home of several different events, including theHouston Hotshots, Houston's former indoor soccer team and smaller wrestling events such asWCW Thunder.
With fixed seating in the main arena for 5,800 and floor space encompassing approximately 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2), Reliant Arena is ideal for general sessions and events for less than 10,000. NRG Arena's pavilion also provides 1,700 fixed seats and is surrounded by over 325,000 square feet (30,200 m2) of exhibit space divisible into four halls. NRG Arena also includes over 18,000 square feet (1,700 m2) of meeting space.
Some of the latest events to come through NRG Arena are the And 1 Mix Tape Tour,Hannah Montana,The Cheetah Girls, andSesame Street Live.
The NRG Astrodome, formerly known as just the Houston Astrodome, is called the "Eighth Wonder of the World" by many as it is the first domed structure of its size created without a pillar supporting it in the center. The Astrodome opened for business on April 9, 1965, and was the home of theHouston Astros andHouston Oilers for over 30 years before both teams moved out, the former toDaikin Park and the latter toNashville, Tennessee (where they eventually became theTennessee Titans). The Astrodome has been the home of many other special events, including theRepublican National Convention, theNBAAll-Star Game, andWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF)WrestleMania X-Seven. The venue has also seen the likes of historic recording artists such as Elvis Presley. Until 2002, NRG Astrodome was also the host of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the largest of its kind in the world. The last concert in NRG Astrodome was the largest attended event ever in the building, featuring George Strait on March 3, 2002, at the Livestock Show and Rodeo where he sang to 68,266 people.
The Astrodome (and NRG Park in general) gained nationwide attention in September 2005 when it was opened as a massive shelter for refugees fleeingHurricane Katrina.[4] Each building except for NRG Stadium (which was configured for theHouston Texans) hosted several thousand refugees, and local media dubbed the complex "Reliant City".[5] This "city" was itself evacuated whenHurricane Rita threatenedTexas later that month, but many returned after the scare and moved out shortly before the end of the year.
The Astrodome has been closed to the general public since 2008 because of fire code violations, and was to undergo renovations in October 2018 to become a multi-purpose event center. The floor of the stadium would have been raised and would have created over 1,000+ parking spaces, while the top floor would be used for events. The project was supposed to start in October 2018 and be completed sometime in 2020.[6] Harris County was to spend $105 million in order to complete this massive overhaul. However, the renovations were rescheduled to 2019, and then put on hold, and then all together scrapped.
The MDAnderson Cancer Center Speedway at NRG Park is a temporarystreet circuit that is configured throughout NRG Park's parking lot. The speedway hosted theGrand Prix of Houston, aChamp Car race held in2006 and2007. The pit lane and paddock for the race teams were located in NRG Arena. Due to the merger between Champ Car and theIndy Racing League in2008, the 2008 Grand Prix of Houston was canceled.
On March 28, 2012, theVerizon IndyCar Series announced that Grand Prix of Houston would return in 2013 to the temporary circuit in NRG Park. The first race since the merger was a doubleheader and the races were won by Scott Dixon and Will Power. The weekend also featured a horrible accident in the second race, Dario Franchitti and Takuma Sato made contact in turn 5 on the last lap making Franchitti airborne hitting the catchfence similar to Kenny Brack's incident in 2003 at Texas. The accident injured 13 fans from flying debris. The race returned in June 2014 with safety upgrades for both drivers and fans featuring updated fencing and grandstands were removed from where the 2013 accident happened. Carlos Huertas and Simon Pagenaud won the two Verizon indyCar Series races of the weekend.
The track was sponsored by JAGFlo in 2007.
The fastest official race lap records at Houston-NRG Park (JAGFlo Speedway atReliant Park) are listed in:
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29°40′56″N95°24′31″W / 29.68222°N 95.40861°W /29.68222; -95.40861
