Shell Energy Stadium (formerly BBVA Compass Stadium, BBVA Stadium, then PNC Stadium) is an American multi-purpose stadium located in Houston, Texas that is home to Houston Dynamo FC, a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club, the Houston Dash of the

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...

, and Texas Southern Tigers football. The stadium is the result of combined commitments of $35.5 million from the city of Houston and $60 million from the Houston Dynamo. Harris County agreed to pay for half of the land in exchange for the ability to jointly own the stadium after its completion date in May 2012. The naming rights to the stadium were formely held by BBVA USA; the name was changed to that of

PNC Financial Services The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 U.S. state, states and the D ...

due to BBVA's acquisition by PNC. The stadium's naming rights have been owned by Shell Energy since January 17, 2023. The stadium is located on a tract of land bordered by Texas, Walker, Emancipation, and Hutchins in East Downtown and east of

Interstate 69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of 10 unconnected segments with an original continuous segment from Indianapolis, Indiana, northeast to the Canadian border in Port Huron, Michigan, at ...

U.S. Route 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA Corridor Highway Sy ...

and Downtown Houston.

Construction history: 2009–2011

In June 2009, negotiations and financing began to fall into place with construction of the stadium originally beginning as early as Fall 2009. Banks and investors were in the books to finance the project and only minor details were being worked out. Various locations the Dynamo were interested in building a stadium since their arrival were the former Astroworld site, Pearland, Sugar Land, and Northeast Houston near the Lake Houston area. On January 26, 2010, the Houston Dynamo franchise had expressed an interest in a proposed parcel for the stadium location at South Rice Avenue and Westpark Drive—adjacent to Bellaire's city limits, and near the southwest corner of the

U.S. Highway 59 U.S. Route 59 (US 59) is a north–south United States highway (though it was signed east–west in parts of Texas). A latecomer to the U.S. numbered route system, US 59 is now a border-to-border route, part of the NAFTA superhighway, NAFTA ...

and the Interstate 610 interchanges. Two days later, the Mayor of Bellaire, Cindy Seigel said that she would use whatever power she could to oppose the possible new location and is in communication with the developer to dissuade him. She acknowledges that considering that the land is in Houston's city limits and only abuts her city, the odds are slim and said in an open letter to Midway:

Fans on the north and east side of Houston will have difficulty in getting to this site. Additionally, this site does not have the infrastructure in place to serve it that already exists at other athletic facilities
downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
or at Reliant Park.

The highly populated and heavily Hispanic area of Gulfton is within proximity, although former Council member Pam Holm stated that ethnic considerations should not be key to choosing a stadium location: "To position this as a Hispanic sport and say the stadium has to be in proximity to Hispanic neighborhoods doesn’t do it justice, the Dynamo is something that all citizens of Houston have so embraced." On April 13, 2010, Harris County commissioners voted unanimously to begin construction of the new Dynamo stadium east of downtown, clearing the way for construction sometime in February 2011. Oliver Luck, at the time president and general manager of the Dynamo, announced the financing, architect, and project manager for the new stadium. He announced Populous had been chosen to design and build the stadium. Populous, one of the world's leading sports architecture firms, had previously built three other major venues in the city— Minute Maid Park, NRG Stadium, and the Toyota Center, and internationally designed soccer stadia including Wembley Stadium (London),

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

(London), Soccer City (Johannesburg), and Aviva Stadium (Dublin). On February 5, 2011, the Houston Dynamo, led by Houston mayor Annise Parker and Harris County judge

Ed Emmett Ed, ed or ED may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ed'' (film), a 1996 film starring Matt LeBlanc * Ed (''Fullmetal Alchemist'') or Edward Elric, a character in ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' media * ''Ed'' (TV series), a TV series that ran fro ...

, broke ground on the Houston Dynamo Stadium site. Houston Dynamo President Chris Canetti strongly expressed that the stadium will be ready by April 2012.

Milestones

Sports

Soccer

Construction on BBVA Stadium led to the Houston Dynamo's decision to play their first seven games of the

2012 Major League Soccer season The 2012 Major League Soccer season was the 100th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States and Canada, the 34th with a national first-division league, and the 17th season of Major League Soccer. The regular season began on March ...

on the road. Their first match at the stadium was played on May 12, 2012 when they defeated D.C. United 1–0. The lone goal came from Brad Davis from 35 yards out which beat D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The win happened in front of a capacity crowd of 22,039 and would mark the beginning of what would be an unbeaten year for the Dynamo at home, posting a year-end home record of 11–0–6. After completion, BBVA Stadium became home to several international matches. The first was between New Zealand and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

for the BBVA Compass Content Series on May 23, 2012. The match ended in a 2–2 draw. The first FIFA Qualifier match was played between Mexico and

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

on October 12, 2012. Mexico won the match, 5–0. The United States women's national team made its debut at the stadium with a 4–0 win over China PR on December 12, 2012. The United States men's national team played to a scoreless draw with Canada on January 29, 2013, in its BBVA debut.

Rugby union

BBVA Stadium played host to the 2012 Italian Tour of the Americas which saw the USA Eagles play Italy to a 30–10 loss. The Eagles returned to BBVA Compass Stadium to play a mid-year rugby union test match against Ireland on June 8, 2013; the Eagles lost 15–12, but set a record for largest crowd for the Eagles on home soil when 20,181 fans packed the stadium. BBVA Stadium played host to the

2012–13 IRB Women's Sevens World Series The IRB Women's Sevens World Series (2012/2013) was the inaugural edition of the IRB Women's Sevens World Series, organized by the IRB annual series of tournaments for women's national teams in the Rugby Sevens. In October 2012 the IRB announce ...

in the USA leg of the series. However, the USA leg of the World Series was moved to the Atlanta suburb of Kennesaw, Georgia for the 2013–14 series, where it has remained ever since.

College football

BBVA Stadium is home to Texas Southern University football. During the 2013 season, the stadium also hosted the

Houston Cougars The Houston Cougars are the athletic teams representing the University of Houston. Informally, the Houston Cougars have also been referred to as the Coogs, UH, or simply Houston. Houston's nickname was suggested by early physical education instr ...

for two games while TDECU Stadium was being built. The Cougars drew the stadium's largest American football crowd—20,197 spectators—for a November 23 game against Cincinnati.

Gaelic football

BBVA Stadium played host to the first ever

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

game on an MLS pitch August 3, 2014, when the Houston Gaels played the first of their now-annual demonstration match (divided squad) after the Houston Dynamo- D.C. United match. The Gaels were originally scheduled to play on March 15 after the Dynamo- Montreal Impact match as part of the Saint Patrick's Day weekend festivities, but the game was postponed due to concerns about the rain-soaked pitch.

Features and design

The stadium has a capacity of 22,039 seats, including 34 private suites, 1,100 club seats, Premium Club, dedicated supporters stand, and food court. The stadium is designed to accommodate MLS and FIFA standard international soccer, football, lacrosse, rugby, and concerts. Architecturally, the stadium features a faceted facade of expanded metal mesh with orange polycarbonate enclosed entrances and spectator facilities that reflects the industrial heritage of the East Downtown location. The stadium architect, Christopher Lee of Populous, stated, “We set out to design the perfect urban soccer stadium: tight, atmospheric, and intimate.”Populous selected to design Dynamo stadium
/ref> Lee was the designer of the famed

in London, England, and his design brings European stadium traditions of intimate and atmospheric soccer specific stadia to MLS.Populous Designs Stadium for Houston Dynamo
The $95 million stadium construction cost makes the BBVA Compass Stadium the most cost-effective of modern soccer-specific stadiums, with recent venues like the Red Bull Arena costing $200 million, Rio Tinto Stadium costing $110 million, and PPL Park costing $115 million.

Awards

On December 10, 2012, BBVA Compass Stadium received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The stadium received the award for its innovative construction and

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

. Notable achievements during the stadium's construction process included diverting 86.85% of on-site generated construction waste to landfills, reducing water use by 41% from the installation of high-energy toilets, reducing energy use by 20.41%, using 98.42% of the wood-based building materials from certified forests and providing preferred parking spaces for fuel-efficient low-emissions vehicles.

Concessions

On March 22, 2012, AEG Facilities-managed BBVA Compass and the Houston Dynamo announced that Levy Restaurants will be the official restaurant partner.

Stadium partners

The following are its current official stadium partners:Stadium Partners
BBVA Compass Stadium official website. Retrieved 27 July 2016 * Budweiser * Audi * Papa Johns * Life Storage * AT&T * TriEagle Energy

Accessibility and transportation

The stadium is adjacent to METRORail light rail at EaDo/Stadium station, served by the Green and Purple lines. Taxi, Buses, street, and garage parking nearby. The stadium is located southeast of Minute Maid Park—within the East Downtown district (which is undergoing revitalization efforts) and east of Downtown Houston.

International matches

BBVA Stadium hosted its first international match on May 23, 2012, when New Zealand and

played to a 2–2 draw. The stadium hosted its first women's international match when it hosted a 4–0 win by the United States over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in December 2012.

Men's matches

Women's matches

Rugby union

References

External links

*
BBVA Stadium
at StadiumDB.com {{Portal bar, Texas, Soccer, Architecture Houston Dynamo FC Major League Soccer stadiums Sports venues in Houston American football venues in Houston College football venues Soccer venues in Houston National Women's Soccer League stadiums Rugby union stadiums in Houston CONCACAF Gold Cup stadiums Houston Christian Huskies football Texas Southern Tigers football Sports venues completed in 2012 2012 establishments in Texas

Construction history: 2009–2011

Milestones

Sports

Soccer

Rugby union

College football

Gaelic football

Features and design

Sponsors

Awards

Concessions

Stadium partners

Accessibility and transportation

International matches

Men's matches

Women's matches

Rugby union

See also

References

External links