The NRG Center (former name Reliant Center) is a convention center in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, and the eighth largest convention center in the United States. It is part of the

NRG Park NRG Park, formerly Reliant Park and Astrodomain, is a complex in Houston, named after the energy company NRG Energy. It is located on Kirby Drive at the South Loop West Freeway ( I-610). This complex of buildings encompasses of land and consist ...

complex that was constructed around the

NRG Astrodome The NRG Astrodome, formerly and also known as the Houston Astrodome or simply the Astrodome, was the world's first Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose, stadium#Types, domed sports stadium, located in Houston, Texas, United States. It seated ar ...

and

NRG Stadium NRG Stadium (previously known as Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Houston, Texas, United States. Construction was completed in 2002, at a cost of $352 million and has a seating capacity of 72,220. It was the first NFL facility to h ...

. The NRG Center hosts various events year-round, including portions of the

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world. It includes one of the richest regular-season professional rodeo events. It has been held at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas, since 2003, with the ex ...

, which maintains its offices on the second floor of the building. The grand opening of the facility was on April 12, 2002, with the

Houston Auto Show The Houston Auto Show is an annual, 5 day long auto show that takes place in January at NRG Park. The show attracts many of the biggest automobile manufacturers. Each year, over 500 of the newest model year import and domestic vehicles, alternativ ...

. Hermes Reed Architects was the architect for the facility. On March 12, 2014, the Reliant Center was renamed to the NRG Center.

The facility

The convention floor runs over in length, while total building size is long and wide, with a total area of . The facility features over of contiguous single-level exhibition space, which is divisible into 11 separate halls, ranging in size from . The 61 meeting rooms are configurable into over 100 variations, and the two largest meeting rooms are . Each meeting room has its own dedicated sound, lighting and networking capabilities. There are also 118 loading bays, a marshalling area with over for shuttle transportation, and over of registration space. The facility the technological infrastructure capable of providing

high-speed internet In telecommunications, broadband or high speed is the wide- bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Internet access. The transmission m ...

access, pre-wired

fiber optic An optical fiber, or optical fibre, is a flexible glass or plastic fiber that can transmit light from one end to the other. Such fibers find wide usage in fiber-optic communications, where they permit transmission over longer distances and at ...

cabling backbone, on-site production facilities, 120 television monitors, as well as web-casting abilities.

Uses

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, The Reliant Park World Series of Dog Shows, Nutcracker Market, Houston Auto Show, International Gem & Jewelry Show, The Vans Warped Tour, Houston Gun Collector's and Antique Show, and the Houston Boat, Sport, and Travel Show, to name a few. In September 2005, the center hosted several thousand refugees from

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

when the Astrodome was declared full. Reliant Center hosted

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

's ''

WrestleMania Axxess WWE World at WrestleMania, formerly known as WrestleMania Axxess, is a professional wrestling fan convention held by WWE during the week of WrestleMania. The event typically runs for four to five days—from Thursday to Sunday or Monday—and fea ...

'' event from April 2 to April 5, in 2009, where fans met their favorite wrestlers in the buildup to ''

WrestleMania XXV WrestleMania 25, also promoted as The 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania, was a 2009 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) List of WWE pay-per-view and livestreaming supercards, event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the ...

'' at the

on April 5. On 30 August 2017, the NRG Center again became a relief shelter in the aftermath of

Hurricane Harvey Hurricane Harvey was a devastating tropical cyclone that made landfall in Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and more than 100 deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cy ...

, after the

George R. Brown Convention Center The George R. Brown Convention Center (GRB), opened on September 26, 1987, is located on the east side of Downtown Houston, Texas, United States. The center was named for internationally recognized entrepreneur, engineer, civic leader, philan ...

went over capacity.

OTC

From 2003, the

Offshore Technology Conference Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is a series of conferences and exhibitions, focused on the exchanging technical knowledge relevant to the development of offshore energy resources, primarily oil and natural gas. It was founded in 1969. There a ...

is held at the NRG Center. The OTC is a large event in the technology of offshore exploration and production of energy resources and associated environmental protection, with attendance in tens of thousands attendees.

References

{{coord, 29.68768, -95.406325, display=t, type:landmark Event venues established in 2002 Buildings and structures in Houston Tourist attractions in Houston 2002 establishments in Texas Convention centers in Texas