The NRG Arena[1] (formerly the Astroarena and Reliant Arena),[2] is a 350,000 square feet (33,000 m2) sports center in NRG Park, in Houston, Texas, USA.
Building format
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.
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
Aerial photograph of the Astrodomain area by Carol M. Highsmith, c.1999. The round Astrodome is prominent; just to its south is the trefoil-shaped Astrohall, and the Astroarena is just east of the Astrohall
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 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
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 auxiliary housing and a field clinic for residents displaced by Hurricane Katrina after it was deemed that the Reliant Astrodome would be insufficient for comfortably housing over 30,000 residents.
On July 16, 2007, the arena played host to the first indoor stop on the 2007 Vans Warped Tour.
