Reliant Stadium - Houston Texans, Texas Bowl & Houston Rodeo

​Reliant Stadium is a multiple-use stadium and is the home of the National Football League's Houston Texans, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Texas Bowl, host to many international soccer matches for the USA National Soccer Team and other events. The stadium served as the host facility for Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004.

Reliant Stadium is part of a collection of venues, including the Reliant Astrodome, which are collectively called Reliant Park. The entire complex is named for Reliant Energy under a 32-year, $300 million naming rights deal in 2000. Reliant Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,500, a total square footage of 1,900,000 square feet  with 97,000 sq ft. of natural grass playing surface. The stadium was constructed at the cost of $352 million. Reliant Stadium is the first facility in the NFL to have a retractable roof.

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. Groundbreaking for the stadium was on March 9, 2001 and the building was officially topped off in October 2001. The stadium opened on August 24, 2002 and hosted its first football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans on September 8, 2002. Construction was completed in 30 months. The first rodeo was held in the stadium in February 2003.

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 various things from the hurricane.

The stadium reopened on October 5, 2008 when the Texans hosted the Indianapolis Colts. The Texans 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.

One of the most notable aspects of the design is the fabric retractable roof. The roof mechanization consists of two bi-parting large panels that part at the 50 yard line, lying over each end zone when in the resting position. Ten parallel tri-chord trusses ride on two parallel rails, each supported by a large supertruss 675 feet  long. Roof operation is controlled in the stadium press box from a personal computer, containing live images of the travel path of each roof panel, as well as live feedback from all roof components throughout the operation. The roof panels are able to open or close in as little as 7 minutes, moving up to 35 feet per minute.

One bleacher section behind the north end zone, called the "Bull Pen", is the designated fan section for the team. The fans in the Bull Pen interact directly with the action on the field and help to create and implement fan traditions, songs, chants and other elements of the game-day experience to create a positive atmosphere for the team and everyone in attendance at the game. Fans in the Bull Pen are encouraged to stand throughout the game, sing, cheer and otherwise support the team in an enthusiastic manner.

The Houston Texans have played their home games at Reliant Stadium since their inception in 2002. The annual calendar consists of 8 regular season and 2 pre-season games, plus any playoff games the Texans might host. The first game played was on August 24, 2002, as the Texans played 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.

Reliant Stadium hosted Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1, 2004, where the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers, 32-29 in front of a stadium-record crowd of 71,525.

The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a co-tenant of Reliant Stadium. "The building is as much for the rodeo as it is for the National Football League," according to Leroy Shafer who is assistant general manager of the rodeo's marketing department. The rodeo is held three weeks in March, each year. During this time Reliant Stadium also hosts an event on the Xtreme Bulls tour, the bull riding-only tour that is part of the PRCA, who also hosts the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.